Between 9 and 45 kyr cal. BP, two great transitions lead the global climate system to evolve from the Last-Glacial period (115-14.7 kyr cal. BP), to two successive warmer periods, the Late-Glacial Interstadial (14.7-11.7 kyr cal. BP) and the Holocene (11.7-0 kyr cal. BP). δ18O variations recorded in Greenland ice cores (GRIP & NGRIP) revealed high frequency climate variability within the Last Glacial. These reference isotopic records highlighted a succession of centennial-to-millennial warm/cold events, the so-called Greenland Interstadials (GI) and Greenland Stadials (GS). The number continental records about the period 14.7-0 kyr cal. BP is substantial. This allowed to understand the vegetation dynamics in response to climate changes this period at the North-Atlantic scale. However, sequences covering the glacial period (beyond 20 kyr cal.BP) remain rare, because of hiatuses mostly due to local glaciers. Therefore, sedimentary continuous records of vegetation dynamics are still needed to better understand climate changes during the Last Glacial in Western Europe (Heiri et al. 2014). Here we present a new high-resolution pollen record from Lake Bergsee (47°34'20''N, 7°56'11''E, 382 m a.s.l). This lake is located south of BlackForest and north of the Alps, beyond the zone of glaciers maximal extension. Therefore it could have recorded the whole last climatic cycle, i.e. 120-0 kyr cal. BP. In 2013, a 29 m long core was extracted from the Bergsee. According to the depth-age model based on 14C AMS dating and the Laacher See Tephra (LST), the record spans continuously at least the last 45 kyrs. The first series of pollen analysis, focused on the 45-9 kyr cal. BP time window, allows us to reconstruct a precise, faithful and continuous vegetation history at the centennial scale. This high temporal resolution enabled to assess the response of vegetation to secular climate events (e.g. GI-4 = 200 yrs). First, our results show that vegetation responded to climate

The Black Rock Forest is a 3,785-acre wilderness area whose richly forested landscape represents the splendor of the Hudson Valley Region of New York State. Although originally intended to become the home of wealthy banker James Stillman, it was his son Ernest whose love of conservation caused him to embrace the then new and revolutionary practice of sustainable forestry and establish Black Rock in 1928. Due to Ernest Stillman's foresight, the property was protected from development and bequeathed to Harvard University following his death for the establishment of an experimental forest. The modern environmental movement in America began when the Black Rock Forest was threatened with development by Consolidated Edison, and the people of the surrounding community banded together, battling tirelessly for over 17 years to stop the degradation of this historic forest. The outcome of this crusade marked a hallmark win for the environment leaving an illustrious and inveterate legacy. The campaign resulted in the watershed legislation the National Environmental Policy Act, the formation of several environmental advocacy groups, the creation of the Council on Environmental Quality of the Executive Office of the President, as well as set a precedent for communities to initiate and win cases against major corporations in order to safeguard natural resources. In the midst of the controversy it became apparent that alternative futures for the Forest needed to be explored. As a result of a committee report and one man's vision, the idea emerged to create a consortium that would purchase and steward the Forest. With a formation that took nearly fifteen years, the Black Rock Forest Consortium was formed, a unique amalgamation of K--12 public and private schools, colleges and universities, and science and cultural centers that successfully collaborate to enhance scientific research, environmental conservation, and education. The Consortium works to bridge the gaps between learners

We developed a spatially explicit modeling approach, using a county-scaled remote forest (i.e., forested area reserved from or having no direct human interference) assessment derived from 1984-1990 forest resource inventory data and a 1984 black bear (Ursus americantus) range map for 12 states in the southern United States.We defined minimum suitable and optimal black...

[1] Mosses are an important component of the boreal forest, but little is known about their contribution to ecosystem carbon, water, and energy exchange. We studied the role of mosses in boreal forest evapotranspiration by conducting two experiments in a black spruce forest in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The introduction of non-native species starts in the context of global changes in the world. These nonnative species, that have come to our country, whether intentionally or unintentionally, are responsible for the loss of biodiversity, changes in trophic levels and in nutrient cycle, hydrology, hybridizations, and at last could have an impact on the economy. The species black locust (Robinia pseudoaccacia) was introduced to Europe in 1601, first for horticultural purposes, and later broke into forestry. However, due to its ability to effectively spread the vegetative and generative root sprouts seeds and without the presence of natural pest may be occurrence of black locust in European forests highly questionable. Primarily we tried to identify differences in species composition and biodiversity among indigenous hardwood floodplain forest and non-native black locust forest based on numerical methods. In the results we were able to demonstrate more biodiversity in hardwood floodplain forests. (authors)

...: The Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City, South Dakota. The... Ranger District, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota. Written comments may be submitted as... the public. The agenda will include time for people to make oral statements of three minutes or less...

The high natural radium contamination in the Southern BlackForest was used to evaluate the extent of contamination in the environment, the mechanisms of radium transport to man, and the radiation burden of the population due to natural Ra-226. Ra-226 was measured in air, soil, sediment and rock samples. Spring, surface and drinking water were examined. The contamination of fish, milk and practically all foodstuffs produced in the Southern BlackForest was measured. Grass and hay samples and many wild plants were also analyzed for Ra-226. Since water and fish samples, grass and milk samples, soil and grass samples were collected jointly in every case, it was possible to calculate the following transfer factors: fish/water, grass/soil, milk/grass, water/sediments, foodstuffs/soil. The latter includes the transfer factors for wheat, barley, oat, eggs, beef and deer, potatoes and vegetables. The natural radiation burden was calculated on the basis of the consumption habits by the average member of the population. Measurement in the body counter of the Ra-226 body burden of 28 persons living in the area under consideration concluded the research program. The radio-ecological and health physics aspects of the results are discussed. (H.K.)

Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are native upland game birds and a management indicator species (MIS) for aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Black Hills National Forest (Black Hills). Our objective was to assess resource selection of male ruffed grouse to identify the most appropriate scale to manage for aspen and ruffed grouse in the Black Hills. During spring 2007...

Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) are a disturbance-dependent species that occupy recently burned forest and mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestations. Forest management practices that reduce the amount of disturbed forest may lead to habitat loss for Black-backed Woodpeckers, which have recently been petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act. We...

The deposition of trace substances to a coniferous forest has been estimated by means of a one-dimensional cloud droplet deposition model. For a period of 21 months the liquid water content has been measured and 89 samples of cloud water from the weather station Feldberg have been analysed for chemical composition. These data and meteorological routine observations have been used as input parameters for the deposition model. Deposition calculations to a 40 years old coniferous forest for the period 1982-1991 showed that the cloud water deposition amounts to 33% of the precipitation amount on the average and varies between 23 and 43% in single years. The highest cloud water deposition rates occur during fall and winter. The trace substance concentration in cloud water has been found to be higher than in precipitation, by a factor between 6 and 12, depending on the type of ions. Typically seasonal variations of normalized ion concentrations could be shown to exist as well as dependencies on wind direction. Air mass transport from the industries of the Stuttgart area resulted in higher trace substance concentrations in cloud water. The deposition of trace substances via fog interception during the summer months is as high and in the winter months higher than that by wet deposition. The forests at high elevations of BlackForest are charged appreciably by fog interception. (orig.). 31 figs., 5 tabs., 39 refs [de

... species on lands of all ownerships in the Black Hills is ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosae). Since 1997 the... rated as having high wildfire hazard. Since 1980, due to several factors including drought the Forest...

.... The predominant tree species on lands of all ownerships in the Black Hills is ponderosa pine (Pinus... drought the Forest has seen a dramatic increase in acreage burned by wildfires. In that period over 250...

The high natural radium contamination prevailing in the Southern BlackForest was used to assess the degree of contamination of the environment, the mechanisms of radium transport to man, as well as the radiation impact on the population from natural Ra-226. The Ra-226 concentration was determined in samples of soil, river and lake water, ground and spring water, drinking water and foodstuffs including potatoes, corn, flour, meat, milk, vegetables, fish, eggs and entrails; these values were compared to a summary of values taken from the literature. Ra-226 concentrations were also determined in the environmental air, grass and hay samples and wild plants. Transfer factors were calculated for fish/water, sediment/water, grass/milk, grass/soil, milk/soil and the individual foodstuffs. The maximum permissible intake per annum for the population living in this region was calculated to be 7.1 nCi/a, assuming that the total demand for foodstuffs is satisfied by local produces; this corresponds to a body burden of 7.4 nCi of Ra-226. Whole-body counting of a sample of the population showed the calculated level of Ra-226 intake to be an overestimate. (UK)

Autumn willow, Salix serissima (Bailey) Fern., is an obligate wetland shrub that occurs in fens and bogs in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. Disjunct populations of autumn willow occur in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Only two populations occur on Black Hills National Forest lands: a large population at McIntosh Fen and a small...

This study explores conflict in recreational use of the BlackForest Nature Park (BFNP) by six different nature sports groups as a function of infrastructure, forest management and other users. A multi-step, methodological triangulation conflict model from US recreation management was applied and tested in the Park. Results from two groups, hikers and mountain bikers,...

This study reports continuous automated measurements of forest floor carbon (C) exchange over feathermoss, lichen, and sphagnum micro-sites in a black spruce forest in eastern North America during snow-free periods over three years. The response of soil respiration (Rs-auto) and forest floor photosynthesis (Pff) to environmental factors was determined. The seasonal contributions of scaled up Rs-auto adjusted for spatial representativeness (Rs-adj) and Pff (Pff-eco) relative to that of total ecosystem respiration (Re) and photosynthesis (Peco), respectively, were also quantified. Shallow (5 cm) soil temperature explained 67-86% of the variation in Rs-auto for all ground cover types, while deeper (50 and 100 cm) soil temperatures were related to Rs-auto only for the feathermoss micro-sites. Base respiration was consistently lower under feathermoss, intermediate under sphagnum, and higher under lichen during all three years. The Rs-adj/Re ratio increased from spring through autumn and ranged from 0.85 to 0.87 annually for the snow-free period. The Rs-adj/Re ratio was negatively correlated with the difference between air and shallow soil temperature and this correlation was more pronounced in autumn than summer and spring. Maximum photosynthetic capacity of the forest floor (Pff-max) saturated at low irradiance levels (~200 μmol m-2 s-1) and decreased with increasing air temperature and vapor pressure deficit for all three ground cover types, suggesting that Pff was more limited by desiccation than by light availability. Pff-max was lowest for sphagnum, intermediate for feathermoss, and highest for lichen for two of the three years. Pff normalized for light peaked at air temperatures of 5-8°C, suggesting that this is the optimal temperature range for Pff. The Pff-eco/Peco ratio varied from 13 to 24% over the snow-free period and reached a minimum in mid-summer when both air temperature and Peco were at their maximum. On an annual basis, Pff-eco accounted for 17

This study reports continuous automated measurements of forest floor carbon (C) exchange over feathermoss, lichen, and sphagnum micro-sites in a black spruce forest in eastern North America during snow-free periods over three years. The response of soil respiration (Rs-auto) and forest floor photosynthesis (Pff) to environmental factors was determined. The seasonal contributions of scaled up Rs-auto adjusted for spatial representativeness (Rs-adj) and Pff (Pff-eco) relative to that of total ecosystem respiration (Re) and photosynthesis (Peco), respectively, were also quantified. Shallow soil temperature explained 67-86% of the variation in Rs-auto for all ground cover types, while deeper soil temperatures were related to Rs-auto only for the feathermoss micro-sites. Base respiration was consistently lower under feathermoss, intermediate under sphagnum, and higher under lichen during all three years. The Rs-adj/Re ratio increased from spring through autumn and ranged from 0.85 to 0.87 annually for the snow-free period. The Rs-adj/Re ratio was negatively correlated with the difference between air and shallow soil temperature and this correlation was more pronounced in autumn than summer and spring. Maximum photosynthetic capacity of the forest floor (Pffmax) saturated at low irradiance levels (~200 μmol m-2 s-1) and decreased with increasing air temperature and vapor pressure deficit for all three ground cover types, suggesting that Pff was more limited by desiccation than by light availability. Pffmax was lowest for sphagnum, intermediate for feathermoss, and highest for lichen for two of the three years. Pff normalized for light peaked at air temperatures of 5-8°C, suggesting that this is the optimal temperature range for Pff. The Pff-eco/Peco ratio varied seasonally from 13 to 24% and reached a minimum in mid-summer when both air temperature and Peco were at their maximum. On an annual basis, Pff-eco accounted for 17-18% of Peco depending on the year and the

... provide an orientation to the Board regarding Forest Funding, including appropriations and trends; (2... following business will be conducted: (1) Orientation to Forest Funding including appropriations and trends... INFORMATION CONTACT. All reasonable accommodation requests are managed on a case by case basis. Dated: October...

allows maskless definition of carbon nanotube forests with control of their density, nanotube diameter and height. Four nanograss reactive ion etching recipes are investigated and their wafer-to-wafer repeatability, wafer uniformity, and density control is discussed. Evaluation of carbon nanotube forests...

Tens of thousands of kilograms of rhizomes and roots of Actaea racemosa L., a native Appalachian forest perennial, are harvested every year and used for the treatment of menopausal conditions. Sustainable management of this and other wild-harvested non-timber forest products requires the ability to effectively and reliably inventory marketable plant...

... Hills National Forest Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City South Dakota. The Board is... staff before the meeting. The agenda will include time for people to make oral statements of three...

Full Text Available This study reports continuous automated measurements of forest floor carbon (C exchange over feathermoss, lichen, and sphagnum micro-sites in a black spruce forest in eastern North America during snow-free periods over three years. The response of soil respiration (Rs-auto and forest floor photosynthesis (Pff to environmental factors was determined. The seasonal contributions of scaled up Rs-auto adjusted for spatial representativeness (Rs-adj and Pff (Pff-eco relative to that of total ecosystem respiration (Re and photosynthesis (Peco, respectively, were also quantified.

Shallow (5 cm soil temperature explained 67–86% of the variation in Rs-auto for all ground cover types, while deeper (50 and 100 cm soil temperatures were related to Rs-auto only for the feathermoss micro-sites. Base respiration was consistently lower under feathermoss, intermediate under sphagnum, and higher under lichen during all three years. The Rs-adj/Re ratio increased from spring through autumn and ranged from 0.85 to 0.87 annually for the snow-free period. The Rs-adj/Re ratio was negatively correlated with the difference between air and shallow soil temperature and this correlation was more pronounced in autumn than summer and spring.

Maximum photosynthetic capacity of the forest floor (Pff-max saturated at low irradiance levels (~200 μmol m−2 s−1 and decreased with increasing air temperature and vapor pressure deficit for all three ground cover types, suggesting that Pff was more limited by desiccation than by light availability. Pff-max was lowest for sphagnum, intermediate for feathermoss, and highest for lichen for two

After seven growing seasons, survival of black walnut seedlings planted in cleared forest openings did not differ by competition control treatments. The trees grew somewhat larger where all competing vegetation was controlled but almost as large where only herbaceous competition was controlled. Controlling only woody vegetation was no better than no control of any...

Gene contributions of foreign populations as well as coefficients of inbreeding and relationship were evaluated in 699 BlackForest Draught horses of Baden-Württemberg actually registered in the year 2002. Based on nearly complete 5-generation-pedigrees and after taking into account the remaining incompleteness, the mean coefficient of inbreeding for the total population was 6.5%. The recently by incrossing with different breeds newly established lines of stallions showed significantly lower mean coefficients of inbreeding. High rates of inbreeding of about 1.6% in the last five generations could also be faced by incrossing stallions of foreign coldblooded populations what resulted in a decrease of inbreeding in the last generation. In the total population the mean degree of relationship was 16%. The mean degree of relationships within lines of stallions was between 18.3 and 26.8%. The coefficients of relationships between lines of stallions varied between 5.1 and 16.6%. Especially, the newly established lines of stallions showed a lower mean degree of relationships to the other different lines of stallions. The proportion of purebred BlackForest Draught horses in the total population was nearly 70%. Assuming that most animals of unknown origin were purebred, the proportion of purebred BlackForest Draught horses reached about 90%. Austrian Noric, Swiss Freiberg and South German Coldblood stallions were the most important contributors to the BlackForest Draught horse population.

Full Text Available More than 70 % of the Caucasian Black Sea Coast (CBSC forests grow in mountainous conditions of the Colchis phytogeographical province and perform primary environmental functions. In these forests for a long period of time excessively intense logging has been in practice, which caused serious damage to their health. The main issues of forestry here are the introduction of effective methods of harvesting, using rational technology in logging operations, restoring native forest types at past logging sites, increasing the productivity and sustainability of forests on the bioecological biogeocenotical level, and preserving the riparian-protective role of forests. In the article, the author analyzes the results of many years of research in forests of the CBSC, that consider the question of condition of forests, peculiarity the multifunctional values and priority direction forestry in them. The author also considers the basic conformity of structure and com-position of forest stands, and presents evidence about the natural renewal of logging sites in fir and beech forests. It has been established that high intensity selective logging more than 50 % canopy cover and bringing the stand after logging 0.5 and below leads to degradation of forests, except for the possibility of natural regeneration felling areas for over 70 years. The study substantiates the effectiveness of selective forms of forest management in the uneven-aged stands and the importance of a multi-purpose and sustainable use of forest resources. The study emphasizes the need for a rational technology of logging operations and silvicultural demands strict compliance with the development of cutting areas and suggests ways to improve the productivity of forests, using introduced valuable tree species. For example, Sequoia sempervirens Endl. in the plantings of forest monocultures on the Abkhazian Research Forest Experimental Station (Ochamchira at age of 50 years forms a valuable timber of

Full Text Available This study focused on the estimation of black carbon emissions from dry dipterocarp forest fires in Thailand. Field experiments were set up at the natural forest, Mae Nam Phachi wildlife sanctuary, Ratchaburi Province, Thailand. The dead leaves were the main component consumed of the surface biomass with coverage higher than 90% in volume and mass. The dead leaves load was 342 ± 190 g∙m−2 and followed by a little mass load of twig, 100 g∙m−2. The chemical analysis of the dead leaves showed that the carbon content in the experimental biomass fuel was 45.81 ± 0.04%. From the field experiments, it was found that 88.38 ± 2.02% of the carbon input was converted to carbon released to the atmosphere, while less than 10% were left in the form of residues, and returned to soil. The quantity of dead leaves consumed to produce each gram of carbon released was 2.40 ± 0.02 gdry biomass burned. From the study, the emissions factor of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter (PM2.5 and black carbon amounted 1329, 90, 26.19 and 2.83 g∙kg−1dry biomass burned, respectively. In Thailand, the amount of black carbon emissions from dry dipterocarp forest fires amounted 17.43 tonnes∙y−1.

Full Text Available We investigated home-range characteristics and habitat selection by Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus in an unburned, boreal forest landscape managed by mosaic harvesting in Quebec, Canada. Habitat selection by this species was specifically examined to determine home-range establishment and foraging activities. We hypothesized that Black-backed Woodpeckers would respond to harvesting by adjusting their home-range size as a function of the amount of dead wood available. Twenty-two birds were tracked using radiotelemetry, and reliable estimates of home-range size were obtained for seven breeding individuals (six males and one female. The average home-range size was 151.5 ± 18.8 ha (range: 100.4-256.4 ha. Our results indicate that this species establishes home ranges in areas where both open and forested habitats are available. However, during foraging activities, individuals preferentially selected areas dominated by old coniferous stands. The study also showed that the spatial distribution of preferred foraging habitat patches influenced space use, with home-range area increasing with the median distance between old coniferous habitat patches available within the landscape. Finally, these data show that Black-backed Woodpeckers may successfully breed in an unburned forest with at least 35 m3  ha-1 of dead wood, of which 42% (15 m3  ha-1 is represented by dead wood at the early decay stage.

The European black truffle is a mycorrhizal fungus native to Spanish Mediterranean forests. In most Spanish regions it was originally commercially harvested in the second half of the 20th century. Experts agree that wild truffle yields suffered a sharp decline during the 1970s and 1980s. However, official statistics for Spanish harvest are scarce and seemingly conflicting, and little attention has been paid to the regime for the exploitation of truffle-producing forests and its implications on the sustainability of this resource. Trends in harvest from 1969 to 2013 and current harvesting practices were analyzed as a case study, taking into account that Spain is a major truffle producer worldwide, but at the same time truffles have only recently been exploited. The available statistical sources, which include an increasing proportion of cultivated truffles since the mid-1990s, were explored, with estimates from Truffle Harvesters Federation showing higher consistency. Statistical sources were then compared with proxies for wild harvest (rents from truffle leases in public forests) to corroborate time trends in wild harvesting. Results suggest that black truffle production is recovering in recent years thanks to plantations, whereas wild harvest is still declining. The implications of Spanish legal and institutional framework on sustainability of wild truffle use are reviewed. In the current scenario, the decline of wild harvest is likely to continue and eventually make commercial harvesting economically unattractive, thus aggravating sustainability issues. Strengthening of property rights, rationalization of harvesting pressure, forest planning and involvement of public stakeholders are proposed as corrective measures.

As climate rapidly warms at high-latitudes, the boreal forest faces the simultaneous threats of increasing invasive plant abundances and increasing area burned by wildfire. Highly flammable and widespread black spruce (Picea mariana) forest represents a boreal habitat that may be increasingly susceptible to non-native plant invasion. This study assess the role of burn...

Black spruce forests are a dominant covertype in the boreal forest region, and they inhabit landscapes that span a wide range of hydrologic and thermal conditions. These forests often have large stores of soil organic carbon. Recent increases in temperature at northern latitudes may be stimulating decomposition rates of this soil carbon. It is unclear, however, how changes in environmental conditions influence decomposition in these systems, and if substrate controls of decomposition vary with hydrologic and thermal regime. We addressed these issues by investigating the effects of temperature, moisture, and organic matter chemical characteristics on decomposition of fibric soil horizons from three black spruce forest sites. The sites varied in drainage and permafrost, and included a "Well Drained" site where permafrost was absent, and "Moderately well Drained" and "Poorly Drained" sites where permafrost was present at about 0.5 m depth. Samples collected from each site were incubated at five different moisture contents (2, 25, 50, 75, and 100% saturation) and two different temperatures (10??C and 20??C) in a full factorial design for two months. Organic matter chemistry was analyzed using pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry prior to incubation, and after incubation on soils held at 20??C, 50% saturation. Mean cumulative mineralization, normalized to initial carbon content, ranged from 0.2% to 4.7%, and was dependent on temperature, moisture, and site. The effect of temperature on mineralization was significantly influenced by moisture content, as mineralization was greatest at 20??C and 50-75% saturation. While the relative effects of temperature and moisture were similar for all soils, mineralization rates were significantly greater for samples from the "Well Drained" site compared to the other sites. Variations in the relative abundances of polysaccharide-derivatives and compounds of undetermined source (such as toluene, phenol, 4-methyl phenol, and

The author has identified the following significant results. Road systems being developed within the Manitou, Colorado area for human habitation are readily discernible on the S192 normal-color photographs. These are dirt roads, some of which are about 20 feet wide. These data should provide the District Ranger of the Pike National Forest required information on the size and extent of these developing areas, information which he does not now have but is required for total management of the District.

Black locust accounts for over 90% of artificial forests in China's Loess Plateau region. However, water use of black locust is an uphill challenge for this semi-arid region. To accurately quantify tree water use and to explain the related hydrological processes, it is important to collect reliable data for application in the estimation of sap flow and its response to environmental factors. This study measured sap flow in black locust in the 2015 and 2016 growth seasons using the thermal dissipation probes technique and laboratory-calibrated Granier's equation. The study showed that the laboratory calibrated coefficient α was much larger than the original value presented by Granier, while the coefficient β was similar to the original one. The average daily transpiration was 2.1 mm day -1 for 2015 and 1.6 mm day -1 for 2016. Net solar radiation (Rn) was the key meteorological factor controlling sap flow, followed by vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and then temperature (T). VPD had a threshold control on sap flow at threshold values of 1.9 kPa for 2015 and 1.6 kPa for 2016. The effects of diurnal hysteresis of Rn, VPD and T on sap flow were evident, indicating that black locust water use was conservative.

We measured soil climate and the turbulent fluxes of CO2, H2O, heat, and momentum on short towers (2 m) in a 160-yr-old boreal black spruce forest in Manitoba, Canada. Two distinct land cover types were studied: a Sphagnum-dominated wetland, and a feathermoss (Pleurozium and Hylocomium)-dominated upland, both lying within the footprint of a 30-m tower, which has measured whole-forest carbon exchange since 1994. Peak summertime uptake of CO2, was higher in the wetland than for the forest as a whole due to the influence of deciduous shrubs. Soil respiration rates in the wetland were approximately three times larger than in upland soils, and 30% greater than the mean of the whole forest, reflecting decomposition of soil organic matter. Soil respiration rates in the wetland were regulated by soil temperature, which was in turn influenced by water table depth through effects on soil heat capacity and conductivity. Warmer soil temperatures and deeper water tables favored increased heterotrophic respiration. Wetland drainage was limited by frost during the first half of the growing season, leading to high, perched water tables, cool soil temperatures, and much lower respiration rates than observed later in the growing season. Whole-forest evapotranspiration increased as water tables dropped, suggesting that photosynthesis in this forest was rarely subject to water stress. Our data indicate positive feedback between soil temperature, seasonal thawing, heterotrophic respiration, and evapotranspiration. As a result, climate warming could cause covariant changes in soil temperature and water table depths that may stimulate photosynthesis and strongly promote efflux of CO2 from peat soils in boreal wetlands.

In subtropical coastal wetlands on multiple continents, climate change-induced reductions in the frequency and intensity of freezing temperatures are expected to lead to the expansion of woody plants (i.e., mangrove forests) at the expense of tidal grasslands (i.e., salt marshes). Since some ecosystem goods and services would be affected by mangrove range expansion, there is a need to better understand mangrove sensitivity to freezing temperatures as well as the implications of changing winter climate extremes for mangrove-salt marsh interactions. In this study, we investigated the following questions: (1) how does plant life stage (i.e., ontogeny) influence the resistance and resilience of black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) forests to freezing temperatures; and (2) how might differential life stage responses to freeze events affect the rate of mangrove expansion and salt marsh displacement due to climate change? To address these questions, we quantified freeze damage and recovery for different life stages (seedling, short tree, and tall tree) following extreme winter air temperature events that occurred near the northern range limit of A. germinans in North America. We found that life stage affects black mangrove forest resistance and resilience to winter climate extremes in a nonlinear fashion. Resistance to winter climate extremes was high for tall A. germinans trees and seedlings, but lowest for short trees. Resilience was highest for tall A. germinans trees. These results suggest the presence of positive feedbacks and indicate that climate-change induced decreases in the frequency and intensity of extreme minimum air temperatures could lead to a nonlinear increase in mangrove forest resistance and resilience. This feedback could accelerate future mangrove expansion and salt marsh loss at rates beyond what would be predicted from climate change alone. In general terms, our study highlights the importance of accounting for differential life stage responses and

The author has identified the following significant results. Some current beetle-killed ponderosa pine can be detected on S190-B photography imaged over the Bear Lodge mountains in the Black Hills National Forest. Detections were made on SL-3 imagery (September 13, 1973) using a zoom lens microscope to view the photography. At this time correlations have not been made to all of the known infestation spots in the Bear Lodge mountains; rather, known infestations have been located on the SL-3 imagery. It was determined that the beetle-killed trees were current kills by stereo viewing of SL-3 imagery on one side and SL-2 on the other. A successful technique was developed for mapping current beetle-killed pine using MSS imagery from mission 247 flown by the C-130 over the Black Hills test site in September 1973. Color enhancement processing on the NASA/JSC, DAS system using three MSS channels produced an excellent quality detection map for current kill pine. More importantly it provides a way to inventory the dead trees by relating PCM counts to actual numbers of dead trees.

We identify an important Black Carbon (BC) aerosol deposition event that was observed in snow stratigraphy and dated to between 27 July 2013 – 2 August 2013. This event comprises a significant portion (~60%) of total deposition over a 10 month period (July 2013 – April 2014). Here we link this event to forest fires burning in Canada during summer 2013 using modeling and remote sensing tools. Aerosols were detected by both the CALIOP and MODIS instruments during transport between Canada and Greenland, confirming that this event involved emissions from forest fires in Canada. We use high-resolution regional chemical transport mod-eling (WRF-Chem) combined with high-resolution fire emissions (FINNv1.5) to study aerosol emissions, transport, and deposition during this event. The model accurately captures the timing of the BC deposition event and shows that the major contribution to deposition during this event is emissions originating from fires in Canada. However, the model under-predicts aerosol deposition compared to measurements at all sites by a factor of 2–100. Under-prediction of modeled BC deposition originates from uncertainties in fire emissions combined with uncertainties in aerosol scavenging by clouds. This study suggests that it is possible to describe the transport of an exceptional smoke event on regional and continental scales. Improvements in model descriptions of precipitation scavenging and emissions from wildfires are needed to correctly predict deposition, which is critical for determining the climate impacts of aerosols that originate from fires.

Full Text Available Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus are a rare habitat specialist typically found in moderate and high severity burned forest throughout its range. It also inhabits green forest but little is known about occurrence and habitat use patterns outside of burned areas, especially in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA. We used point count and playback surveys to detect Black-backed Woodpeckers during 2011 - 2013 on 460 transects on 10 national forest units. We defined green forest as areas that had not burned at moderate or high severity since 1991 and were more than 2 km from areas burned at moderate or high severity within the previous eight years (n = 386 transects. We used occupancy models to examine green forest habitat associations and found positive relationships with elevation, latitude, northern aspects, number of snags, tree diameter, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta forest, and a negative relationship with slope. Estimated occupancy in green forest was higher than previously understood (0.21. In addition site colonization and extinction probability in green forest were low (0.05 and 0.19, respectively and suggest that many of the individuals detected in green forest were not just actively dispersing across the landscape in search of burned areas, but were occupying relatively stable home ranges. The association with high elevation and lodgepole pine forest may increase their exposure to climate change as these elevation forest types are predicted to decrease in extent over the next century. Although density is high in burned forest, green forest covers significantly more area in the Sierra Nevada and should be considered in efforts to conserve this rare species.

Full Text Available Boreal black spruce (Picea mariana forests are prone to developing thick organic layers (paludification. Black spruce is adapted to this environment by the continuous development of adventitious roots, masking the root collar and making it difficult to age trees. Ring counts above the root collar underestimate age of trees, but the magnitude of age underestimation of trees in relation to organic layer thickness (OLT is unknown. This age underestimation is required to produce appropriate age-correction tools to be used in land resource management. The goal of this study was to assess aging errors that are done with standard ring counts of trees growing in sites with different degrees of paludification (OLT; 0–25 cm, 26–65 cm, >65 cm. Age of 81 trees sampled at three geographical locations was determined by ring counts at ground level and at 1 m height, and real age of trees was determined by cross-dating growth rings down to the root collar (root/shoot interface. Ring counts at 1 m height underestimated age of trees by a mean of 22 years (range 13–49 and 52 years (range 14–112 in null to low vs. moderately to highly paludified stands, respectively. The percentage of aging-error explained by our linear model was relatively high (R2adj = 0.71 and showed that OLT class and age at 0-m could be used to predict total aging-error while neither DBH nor geographic location could. The resulting model has important implications for forest management to accurately estimate productivity of these forests.

Full Text Available The objectives of this study were to (1 quantitatively summarize the early yield responses of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill. B.S.P. to forest vegetation management (FVM treatments through a meta-analytical review of the scientific literature, and (2 given (1, estimate the rotational consequences of these responses through model simulation. Based on a fixed-effects meta-analytic approach using 44 treated-control yield pairs derived from 12 experiments situated throughout the Great Lakes—St. Lawrence and Canadian Boreal Forest Regions, the resultant mean effect size (response ratio and associated 95% confidence interval for basal diameter, total height, stem volume, and survival responses, were respectively: 54.7% (95% confidence limits (lower/upper: 34.8/77.6, 27.3% (15.7/40.0, 198.7% (70.3/423.5, and 2.9% (−5.5/11.8. The results also indicated that early and repeated treatments will yield the largest gains in terms of mean tree size and survival. Rotational simulations indicated that FVM treatments resulted in gains in stand-level operability (e.g., reductions of 9 and 5 yr for plantations established on poor-medium and good-excellent site qualities, resp.. The challenge of maintaining coniferous forest cover on recently disturbed sites, attaining statutory-defined free-to-grow status, and ensuring long-term productivity, suggest that FVM will continue to be an essential silvicultural treatment option when managing black spruce plantations.

Rainfall and throughfall inputs of all major cations and anions, via open-field bulk precipitation and canopy throughfall, are compared with streamwater outputs in two forested catchments at higher altitudes of the BlackForest. The sites differ considerably in terms of bedrock geology, soil type, soilwater characteristics, topography, and forest management history. Deposition at both sites is almost equal and, in contrast to other forest areas in Central Europe, of a low-to-moderate level. Dry deposition does not seem to play an important role. Distinct differences in the elemental output emerge owing to the differing site conditions. At Villingen, deposited nitrogen is almost totally retained, whereas at Schluchsee, nitrogen output and input are of the same order of magnitude. This is consistent with the different nitrogen nutrition level of the stands, microbial turnover in the soil, and former management practices (change of tree species, excessive nutrient export). Sulphur is not retained in either of the catchments. At Schluchsee, sulphur export exceeds input from canopy throughfall by a factor of 2.5. The higher output rates, both of nitrogen and sulphur at Schluchsee, are due to the much higher microbial mineralization of organic matter as shown by previous incubation tests. Differences in cation and proton export are mainly caused by a different drainage pattern. In contrast to the Schluchsee catchment, where vertical water pathways prevail, the streamwater solute output at Villingen is dominated by a shallow subsurface runoff. Atmospheric deposition is a contributing, but not the dominant, factor in the biogeochemical cycling at these sites. Hence, a generally applicable quantitative definition of 'critical loads', especially for nitrogen, is illusory and the use of such numbers will be misleading.

Full Text Available Thousand cankers disease (TCD is an insect-mediated disease of walnut trees (Juglans spp. involving walnut twig beetle (Pityophthorus juglandis and a fungal pathogen (Geosmithia morbida. Although first documented on walnut species in the western U.S., TCD is now found on black walnut (J. nigra in five states in the eastern U.S. Most collections of P. juglandis or G. morbida are from trees in agriculturally- or residentially-developed landscapes. In 2013, 16 pheromone-baited funnel traps were deployed in or near black walnuts in forested conditions to assess the risk of infestation of forested trees by P. juglandis. Four of the 16 funnel traps collected adult P. juglandis from three forested areas (one in North Carolina and two in Tennessee. These collections, while in forested settings, may still be strongly influenced by human activities. The greatest number of P. juglandis (n = 338 was collected from a forested location in an urbanized area near a known TCD-positive tree. The other two forested locations where P. juglandis (n = 3 was collected were in areas where camping is common, and infested firewood may have introduced P. juglandis unintentionally into the area. Future studies to assess P. juglandis on more isolated forested walnuts are planned.

A strong argument can be made that there is a greater need to study the effect of warming on boreal forests more than on any other terrestrial biome. Boreal forests, the second largest forest biome, are predicted to experience the greatest warming of any forest biome in the world, but a process-based understanding of how warming will affect the structure and function of this economically and ecologically important forest biome is lacking. The effects of warming on species composition, canopy structure and biogeochemical cycles are likely to be complex; elucidating the underlying mechanisms will require long-term whole-ecosystem manipulation to capture all the complex feedbacks (Shaver et al. 2000, Rustad et al. 2001, Stromgren 2001). The DOE Program for Ecosystem Research funded a three year project (2002-2005) to use replicated heated chambers on soil warming plots in northern Manitoba to examine the direct effects of whole-ecosystem warming. We are nearing completion of our first growing season of measurements (fall 2004). In spite of the unforeseen difficulty of installing the heating cable, our heating and irrigation systems worked extremely well, maintaining environmental conditions within 5-10% of the specified design 99% of the time. Preliminary data from these systems, all designed and built by our laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, support our overall hypothesis that warming will increase the carbon sink strength of upland boreal black spruce forests. I request an additional three years of funding to continue addressing the original objectives: (1) Examine the effect of warming on phenology of overstory, understory and bryophyte strata. Sap flux systems and dendrometer bands, monitored by data loggers, will be used to quantify changes in phenology and water use. (2) Quantify the effects of warming on nitrogen and water use by overstory, understory and bryophytes. (3) Compare effects of warming on autotrophic respiration and above- and belowground

The BlackForest Draught horse (BFDH) is an endangered German coldblood breed with its origin in the area of the BlackForest in South Germany. In this retrospective study, the influence of the inbreeding coefficient on foaling rates was investigated using records from ten breeding seasons. Due to the small population size of BFDH, the level of inbreeding is increasing and may have an effect on foaling rates.The data of the present study included all coverings reported for 1024 BFDH mares in the years 2001-2009. These mares were covered by 32 BFDH stallions from the State Stud Marbach. Data from 4534 estrus cycles was used to calculate per cycle foaling rate (CFR). Pedigree data contained all studbook data up to the foundation of the breed as early as 1836. The level of inbreeding of the mare, stallion and expected foal along with other systematic effects on CFR were analysed using a generalized linear mixed model approach. Stallion was employed as a random effect. Systematic fixed effects were month of mating, mating type, age of the mare and stallion, reproductive status of the mare and stallion line of the mare. Inbreeding coefficients of the stallion, mare and expected foal were modelled as linear covariates. The average CFR was 40.9%. The mean inbreeding coefficients of the mares, stallions and expected foals were 7.46, 7.70 and 9.66%. Mating type, age of the mare, reproductive status of the mare and stallion line of the mare had a significant effect. The results showed that the mating type, stallion line of the mare, sire, age and reproductive status of the mare exerted the largest influences on CFR in BFDH. Inbreeding coefficients of the stallion, mare and expected foal were not significantly related with CFR.

We analyzed characteristics of wetland habitats used by breeding black scoters (Melanitta nigra) and surf scoters (M. perspicillata) in the eastern boreal forest and subarctic regions of Canada based on satellite telemetry data collected in the spring and summer. During 2002 and 2004, nine black scoters (four males, five females) were tracked to breeding areas in Quebec, Manitoba, and Northwest Territories. In addition, in 2001?04, seven surf scoters (three males, four females) were tracked to breeding areas in Labrador, Quebec, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Based on satellite telemetry data, locations of black and surf scoters in breeding areas were not significantly different in regard to latitude and longitude. Presumed breeding areas were manually plotted on topographic maps and percent cover type and water were estimated. Breeding habitat of black scoters was significantly different than that for surf scoters, with black scoters mainly using open (tundra) areas (44%) and surf scoters using mainly forest areas (66%). Surf scoters presumed breeding areas were at significantly higher elevations than areas used by black scoters. Some breeding areas were associated with islands, but the role of islands for breeding areas is equivocal. These results aid in the identification of potentially critical breeding areas and provide a baseline classification of breeding habitats used by these two species.

poorly described by a Gaussian distribution that it can be considered 'heavy tailed'. Preliminary results show that disturbance events that affect >3-5% of the trees in our dataset occur approximately every 200 years. The most extreme rates (>5%) occur approximately every 500-1000 years. These statistics indicate that the 1775-1779 heavy-tail event can also be considered a 'Black Swan', the rare event that has the potential to alter a system's trajectory further than common events. Our results challenge traditional views regarding characteristic disturbance regime in humid temperate forests, and speak to the importance of punctuated climatic events in shaping forest structure for centuries. Such an understanding is critical given the potential of more frequent extreme climatic events in the future.

Biomass burning produces black carbon (BC), effectively transferring a fraction of the biomass C from an actively cycling pool to a passive C pool, which may be stored in the soil. Yet the timescales and mechanisms for incorporation of BC into the soil profile are not well understood. The High Park fire (HPF), which occurred in northwestern Colorado in the summer of 2012, provided an opportunity to study the effects of both fire severity and geomorphology on properties of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and BC in the Cache La Poudre River drainage. We sampled montane ponderosa pine forest floor (litter plus O-horizon) and soils at 0-5 and 5-15 cm depth 4 months post-fire in order to examine the effects of slope and burn severity on %C, C stocks, %N and BC. We used the benzene polycarboxylic acid (BPCA) method for quantifying BC. With regard to slope, we found that steeper slopes had higher C : N than shallow slopes but that there was no difference in BPCA-C content or stocks. BC content was greatest in the forest floor at burned sites (19 g BPCA-C kg-1 C), while BC stocks were greatest in the 5-15 cm subsurface soils (23 g BPCA-C m-2). At the time of sampling, unburned and burned soils had equivalent BC content, indicating none of the BC deposited on the land surface post-fire had been incorporated into either the 0-5 or 5-15 cm soil layers. The ratio of B6CA : total BPCAs, an index of the degree of aromatic C condensation, suggested that BC in the 5-15 cm soil layer may have been formed at higher temperatures or experienced selective degradation relative to the forest floor and 0-5 cm soils. Total BC soil stocks were relatively low compared to other fire-prone grassland and boreal forest systems, indicating most of the BC produced in this system is likely lost, either through erosion events, degradation or translocation to deeper soils. Future work examining mechanisms for BC losses from forest soils will be required for understanding the role BC plays in the global

Natural disturbances, such as wildfire and mountain pine beetle (Dentroctonus ponderosae, hereafter MPB) infestations, are two sources of large-scale disturbance that can significantly alter forest structure in the Black Hills. The Black Hills has recently experienced one of the largest MPB outbreaks in the last 100 years, along with varying levels of wildfires...

Boreal forests are of particular interest in climate change studies because of their large land area and ability to sequester and store carbon, which is controlled by water availability. Heterogeneity of these forests is predicted to increase with climate change through the impact of more frequent wildfires, warmer, longer growing seasons, and potential drainage of forested wetlands. This study aims to quantify the influence of stand age, drainage condition, and species on tree transpiration and its drivers in a central Canadian black spruce boreal forest. Heat dissipation sensors were installed in 113 trees (69 Picea mariana (black spruce), 25 Populus tremuloides (trembling aspen), and 19 Pinus banksiana (jack pine) at four stand ages, each containing a well- and poorly-drained site over three growing seasons (2006-2008). Sap flux per unit xylem area, JS, was expressed as transpiration per unit ground area, EC, and transpiration per unit leaf area, EL, using site- and species-specific allometry to obtain sapwood area (AS)and leaf area(AL)per unit ground area. Well-drained, younger Picea mariana daily JS was 47-64% greater than the older well-drained burn ages and younger poorly-drained stands were 64-68% greater than the two oldest poorly-drained stands. Daily EL in the well-drained Picea mariana stands was on average 12-33% higher in younger stand than in the two oldest stands whereas young, poorly-drained Picea mariana had 71% greater daily EL than the older stands. Well-drained Picea mariana trees had 52% higher daily EC than older trees and poorly-drained Picea mariana in the 1964 burn had 42-81% higher daily EC than the oldest stands. Populus tremuloides located in the two youngest stands had daily JS 38-58% greater rates than the 1930 burn, whereas daily EL and EC had no distint differences due to high interannual variability. Pinus banksiana experienced 21-33% greater daily JS in the 1989 burn than in the older 1964 burn for well- and poorly-drained sites

Climate, climate change and tourism all interact. Part of the public discussion about climate change focusses on the tourism sector, with direct and indirect impacts being of equally high relevance. Climate and tourism are closely linked. Thus, climate is a very decisive factor in choices both of destination and of type of journey (active holidays, wellness, and city tours) in the tourism sector. However, whether choices about destinations or types of trip will alter with climate change is difficult to predict. Future climates can be simulated and projected, and the tendencies of climate parameters can be estimated using global and regional climate models. In this paper, the focus is on climate change in the mountainous regions of southwest Germany - the BlackForest. The BlackForest is one of the low mountain ranges where both winter and summer tourism are vulnerable to climate change due to its southern location; the strongest climatic changes are expected in areas covering the south and southwest of Germany. Moreover, as the choice of destination is highly dependent on good weather, a climatic assessment for tourism is essential. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate climatic changes in mountainous regions during summer, especially for tourism and recreation. The assessment method was based on human-biometeorology as well as tourism-climatologic approaches. Regional climate simulations based on the regional climate model REMO were used for tourism-related climatic analyses. Emission scenarios A1B and B1 were considered for the time period 2021 to 2050, compared to the 30-year base period of 1971-2000, particularly for the warm period of the year, defined here as the months of March-November. In this study, we quantified the frequency, but not the means, of climate parameters. The study results show that global and regional warming is reflected in an increase in annual mean air temperature, especially in autumn. Changes in the spring show a slight negative

Full Text Available Laboratory studies show that introduction of fresh and easily decomposable organic carbon (OC into soil-water systems can stimulate the decomposition of soil OC (SOC via priming effects in temperate forests, shrublands, grasslands, and agro-ecosystems. However, priming effects are still not well understood in the field setting for temperate ecosystems and virtually nothing is known about priming effects (e.g., existence, frequency, and magnitude in boreal ecosystems. In this study, a coupled dissolved OC (DOC transport and microbial biomass dynamics model was developed to simultaneously simulate co-occurring hydrological, physical, and biological processes and their interactions in soil pore-water systems. The developed model was then used to examine the importance of priming effects in two black spruce forest soils, with and without underlying permafrost. Our simulations showed that priming effects were strongly controlled by the frequency and intensity of DOC input, with greater priming effects associated with greater DOC inputs. Sensitivity analyses indicated that priming effects were most sensitive to variations in the quality of SOC, followed by variations in microbial biomass dynamics (i.e., microbial death and maintenance respiration, highlighting the urgent need to better discern these key parameters in future experiments and to consider these dynamics in existing ecosystem models. Water movement carries DOC to deep soil layers that have high SOC stocks in boreal soils. Thus, greater priming effects were predicted for the site with favorable water movement than for the site with limited water flow, suggesting that priming effects might be accelerated for sites where permafrost degradation leads to the formation of dry thermokarst.

Laboratory studies show that introduction of fresh and easily decomposable organic carbon (OC) into soil-water systems can stimulate the decomposition of soil OC (SOC) via priming effects in temperate forests, shrublands, grasslands, and agro-ecosystems. However, priming effects are still not well understood in the field setting for temperate ecosystems and virtually nothing is known about priming effects (e.g., existence, frequency, and magnitude) in boreal ecosystems. In this study, a coupled dissolved OC (DOC) transport and microbial biomass dynamics model was developed to simultaneously simulate co-occurring hydrological, physical, and biological processes and their interactions in soil pore-water systems. The developed model was then used to examine the importance of priming effects in two black spruce forest soils, with and without underlying permafrost. Our simulations showed that priming effects were strongly controlled by the frequency and intensity of DOC input, with greater priming effects associated with greater DOC inputs. Sensitivity analyses indicated that priming effects were most sensitive to variations in the quality of SOC, followed by variations in microbial biomass dynamics (i.e., microbial death and maintenance respiration), highlighting the urgent need to better discern these key parameters in future experiments and to consider these dynamics in existing ecosystem models. Water movement carries DOC to deep soil layers that have high SOC stocks in boreal soils. Thus, greater priming effects were predicted for the site with favorable water movement than for the site with limited water flow, suggesting that priming effects might be accelerated for sites where permafrost degradation leads to the formation of dry thermokarst.

Black carbon (BC) concentrations observed in 22 snowpits sampled in the northwest sector of the Greenland ice sheet in April 2014 have allowed us to identify a strong and widespread BC aerosol deposition event, which was dated to have accumulated in the pits from two snow storms between 27 July and 2 August 2013. This event comprises a significant portion (57 on average across all pits) of total BC deposition over 10 months (July 2013 to April 2014). Here we link this deposition event to forest fires burning in Canada during summer 2013 using modeling and remote sensing tools. Aerosols were detected by both the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (on board CALIPSO) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua) instruments during transport between Canada and Greenland. We use high-resolution regional chemical transport modeling (WRF-Chem) combined with high-resolution fire emissions (FINNv1.5) to study aerosol emissions, transport, and deposition during this event. The model captures the timing of the BC deposition event and shows that fires in Canada were the main source of deposited BC. However, the model underpredicts BC deposition compared to measurements at all sites by a factor of 2100. Underprediction of modeled BC deposition originates from uncertainties in fire emissions and model treatment of wet removal of aerosols. Improvements in model descriptions of precipitation scavenging and emissions from wildfires are needed to correctly predict deposition, which is critical for determining the climate impacts of aerosols that originate from fires.

Full Text Available Sustainable management of boreal ecosystems involves the establishment of vigorous tree regeneration after harvest. However, two groups of understory plants influence regeneration success in eastern boreal Canada. Ericaceous shrubs are recognized to rapidly dominate susceptible boreal sites after harvest. Such dominance reduces recruitment and causes stagnant conifer growth, lasting decades on some sites. Additionally, peat accumulation due to Sphagnum growth after harvest forces the roots of regenerating conifers out of the relatively nutrient rich and warm mineral soil into the relatively nutrient poor and cool organic layer, with drastic effects on growth. Shifts from once productive black spruce forests to ericaceous heaths or paludified forests affect forest productivity and biodiversity. Under natural disturbance dynamics, fires severe enough to substantially reduce the organic layer thickness and affect ground cover species are required to establish a productive regeneration layer on such sites. We succinctly review how understory vegetation influences black spruce ecosystem dynamics in eastern boreal Canada, and present a multi-scale research model to understand, limit the loss and restore productive and diverse ecosystems in this region. Our model integrates knowledge of plant-level mechanisms in the development of silvicultural tools to sustain productivity. Fundamental knowledge is integrated at stand, landscape, regional and provincial levels to understand the distribution and dynamics of ericaceous shrubs and paludification processes and to support tactical and strategic forest management. The model can be adapted and applied to other natural resource management problems, in other biomes.

Despite widespread efforts to avert wildfire by reducing the density of flammable vegetation, little is known about the effects of this practice on the reproductive biology of forest birds. We examined nest-site selection and nest survival of the Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) in New Mexico riparian forests treated or not for fuel...

The study deals with the problem of evaluating management strategies for pure stands of Norway spruce ( Picea abies Karst) to balance adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, taking into account multiple objectives of a forest owner. A simulation and optimization approach was used to evaluate the management of a 1000 ha model Age-Class forest, representing the age-class distribution of an area of 66,000 ha of pure Norway spruce forests in the BlackForest region of Southwest Germany. Eight silvicultural scenarios comprising five forest conversion schemes which were interpreted as “adaptation” strategies which aims at increasing the proportion of Beech, that is expected to better cope with climate change than the existing Norway spruce, and three conventional strategies including a “Do-nothing” alternative classified as “mitigation”, trying to keep rather higher levels of growing stock of spruce, were simulated using the empirical growth simulator BWINPro-S. A linear programming approach was adapted to simultaneously maximize the net present values of carbon sequestration and timber production subject to the two constraints of wood even flow and partial protection of the oldest (nature protection). The optimized plan, with the global utility of 11,687 €/ha in forty years, allocated a combination of silvicultural scenarios to the entire forest area. Overall, strategies classified as “mitigation” were favored, while strategies falling into the “adaptation”-category were limited to the youngest age-classes in the optimal solution. Carbon sequestration of the “Do-nothing” alternative was between 1.72 and 1.85 million tons higher than the other alternatives for the entire forest area while the differences between the adaptation and mitigation approaches were approximately 133,000 tons. Sensitivity analysis showed that a carbon price of 21 €/ t is the threshold at which carbon sequestration is promoted, while an interest rate of above 2

We have investigated the variability of smoke aerosol absorbing ability with variations in the content of brown carbon (BrC) and black carbon (BC). Using monitoring data on radiative characteristics of smoke aerosol at AERONET stations and the spatial distribution of aerosol optical depth (AOD) obtained by the MODIS spectrometer ( Terra satellite), we have detected large-scale smokes during boreal forest fires in Russia and Canada (1995-2012). The spatial distribution (50°-70° N, 95°-125° W) and temporal variability (at AERONET station Fort McMurray) of AOD during the smoking of a part of Canada in July 2012 have been analyzed. AOD probability distributions for July 14-18, 2012, and an estimate of aerosol radiative forcing of smoke aerosol at the upper boundary of the atmosphere have been obtained. We have proposed a technique for the diagnostics of BrC and BC in smoke aerosol particles from the spectral dependence of the imaginary part of the refractive index. At a wavelength of 440 nm, the contributions of BrC and BC to the smokeaerosol absorbing abitity can be comparable in magnitude. In many cases, the absorption spectra of smoke aerosol can be adequately approximated by either power or exponential functions. The presence of BrC in smoke-aerosol particles highly extends the variety of observed absorption spectra in a smoky atmosphere and spectral dependences of single scattering albedo. In the spectral range of 440-1020 nm, the radiative characteristics of smoke aerosol are largely contributed by its fine mode.

Climate change, whether natural or human-caused, will have an impact on human life, including recreation and tourism among other things. In this study, methods from biometeorology and tourism climatology are used to assess the effect of a changed climate on tourism and recreation in particular. The study area is the BlackForest mountainous region of south-west Germany, which is well known for its tourist and recreational assets. Climate model projections for the 2021-2050 period based on REMO-UBA simulations with a high spatial resolution of 10 km are compared to a 30-year reference period (1971-2000) using the IPCC emission scenarios A1B and B1. The results show that the mean winter air temperature will increase by up to 1.8°C, which is the most pronounced warming compared to the other seasons. The annual precipitation amount will increase marginally by 5% in the A1B scenario and 10% in the B1 scenario. Winter precipitation contributes about 10% (A1B) and 30% (B1) to variations in annual precipitation. Although the results show that winter precipitation will increase slightly, snow days affecting skiing will be reduced on average by approximately 40% due to regional warming. Cold stress will be reduced on average by up to 25%. The result is that the thermal environment will be advanced, and warmer winters are likely to lead to an upward altitudinal shift of ski resorts and winter sport activities, thus displacing land-use currently dedicated to nature conservation.

Boreal forests are crucial to climate change predictions because of their large land area and ability to sequester and store carbon, which is controlled by water availability. Heterogeneity of these forests is predicted to increase with climate change through more frequent wildfires, warmer, longer growing seasons and potential drainage of forested wetlands. This study aims at quantifying controls over tree transpiration with drainage condition, stand age and species in a central Canadian black spruce boreal forest. Heat dissipation sensors were installed in 2007 and data were collected through 2008 on 118 trees (69 Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. (black spruce), 25 Populus tremuloides Michx. (trembling aspen), 19 Pinus banksiana Lamb. (jack pine), 3 Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch (tamarack) and 2 Salix spp. (willow)) at four stand ages (18, 43, 77 and 157 years old) each containing a well- and poorly-drained stand. Transpiration estimates from sap flux were expressed per unit xylem area, J(S), per unit ground area, E(C) and per unit leaf area, E(L), using sapwood (A(S)) and leaf (A(L)) area calculated from stand- and species-specific allometry. Soil drainage differences in transpiration were variable; only the 43- and 157-year-old poorly-drained stands had ∼ 50% higher total stand E(C) than well-drained locations. Total stand E(C) tended to decrease with stand age after an initial increase between the 18- and 43-year-old stands. Soil drainage differences in transpiration were controlled primarily by short-term physiological drivers such as vapor pressure deficit and soil moisture whereas stand age differences were controlled by successional species shifts and changes in tree size (i.e., A(S)). Future predictions of boreal climate change must include stand age, species and soil drainage heterogeneity to avoid biased estimates of forest water loss and latent energy exchanges.

Originally diminished by development, forests are coming back: forest biomass is accumulating. Forests are repositories for many threatened species. Even with increased standing timber, however, biodiversity is threatened by increased forest fragmentation and by exotic species.

Evaluation of the carbon, water, and energy balances in evergreen coniferous forests requires accurate in situ and satellite data regarding their spatio-temporal dynamics. Daily digital camera images can be used to determine the relationships among phenology, gross primary productivity (GPP), and meteorological parameters, and to ground-truth satellite observations. In this study, we examine the relationship between seasonal variations in camera-based canopy surface indices and eddy-covariance-based GPP derived from field studies in an Alaskan open canopy black spruce forest and in a Japanese closed canopy cedar forest. The ratio of the green digital number to the total digital number, hue, and GPP showed a bell-shaped seasonal profile at both sites. Canopy surface images for the black spruce forest and cedar forest mainly detected seasonal changes in vegetation on the floor of the forest and in the tree canopy, respectively. In contrast, the seasonal cycles of the ratios of the red and blue digital numbers to the total digital numbers differed between the two sites, possibly due to differences in forest structure and leaf color. These results suggest that forest structural characteristics, such as canopy openness and seasonal forest-floor changes, should be considered during continuous observations of phenology in evergreen coniferous forests.

Full Text Available An airborne survey of the BlackForest as affected by the winter storm "Lothar" in 1999 is performed by means of a color line scanner (CLS with a CCD sensor, whose data in a visible and a near-infrared channel provide the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI as a measure of the damage in previously intact forest areas. The camera data, height data from a digital evelation model (DEM, land use information, and soil data are georeferenced and processed in a geographic information system (GIS to derive relationship of the damage pattern to the characteristics of the local orography and soil types. The data cover an area of 4900 km2, 2767 km2 of which were forested. The 363 detected storm damage areas with a minimum detection size of 1.5 ha amount to 0.8% of the total forest area. Visual inspections at certain sites prove that none of the larger damage areas are missed, but areas smaller than 1.5 ha cause the total damage area to be up to twice our result, i.e. ≈1.6% of the forest area. More than 50% of the detected damaged areas are smaller than 5 ha and most of them have a size ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 ha. Forests on slopes with an inclination angle between 10 and 15 degrees show the highest fraction of damaged forest, doubling those on plains and below 5 degrees inclination angle. Forests on northwestern slopes are more affected than those on southwestern and western slopes, which faced the wind during highest wind speed occurrence. In contrast to other studies, this paper shows, that in steep areas, lee slopes are more damaged than the luv slopes. As expected, wet to moist soils represent an unstable location for the trees. But also medium-dry to dry locations that were considered to be relatively stable exhibited a highly damaged forest fraction. This can be attributed to mostly saturated soil from previous rain.

The author has identified the following significant results. Results of photointerpretation indicated that ERTS is a good classifier of forest and nonforest lands (90 to 95 percent accurate). Photointerpreters could make this separation as accurately as signature analysis of the computer compatible tapes. Further breakdowns of cover types at each site could not be accurately classified by interpreters (60 percent) or computer analysts (74 percent). Exceptions were water, wet meadow, and coniferous stands. At no time could the large bark beetle infestations (many over 300 meters in size) be detected on ERTS images. The ERTS wavebands are too broad to distinguish the yellow, yellow-red, and red colors of the dying pine foliage from healthy green-yellow foliage. Forest disturbances could be detected on ERTS color composites about 90 percent of the time when compared with six-year-old photo index mosaics. ERTS enlargements (1:125,000 scale, preferably color prints) would be useful to forest managers of large ownerships over 5,000 hectares (12,500 acres) for broad area planning. Black-and-white enlargements can be used effectively as aerial navigation aids for precision aerial photography where maps are old or not available.

Fire is an important factor controlling the composition and thickness of the organic layer in the black spruce forest ecosystems of interior Alaska. Fire that burns the organic layer can trigger dramatic changes in the underlying permafrost, leading to accelerated ground thawing within a relatively short time. In this study, we addressed the following questions. (1) Which factors determine post-fire ground temperature dynamics in lowland and upland black spruce forests? (2) What levels of burn severity will cause irreversible permafrost degradation in these ecosystems? We evaluated these questions in a transient modeling–sensitivity analysis framework to assess the sensitivity of permafrost to climate, burn severity, soil organic layer thickness, and soil moisture content in lowland (with thick organic layers, ∼80 cm) and upland (with thin organic layers, ∼30 cm) black spruce ecosystems. The results indicate that climate warming accompanied by fire disturbance could significantly accelerate permafrost degradation. In upland black spruce forest, permafrost could completely degrade in an 18 m soil column within 120 years of a severe fire in an unchanging climate. In contrast, in a lowland black spruce forest, permafrost is more resilient to disturbance and can persist under a combination of moderate burn severity and climate warming. (letter)

Full Text Available Partial cutting is thought to be an alternative to achieve sustainable management in boreal forests. However, the effects of intermediate harvest intensity (45%–80% on growth remain unknown in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill. B.S.P. stands, one of the most widely distributed boreal species with great commercial interest. In this study, we analysed the effect of three experimental shelterwood and one seed-tree treatments on tree radial growth in even-aged black spruce stands, 10 years after intervention. Our results show that radial growth response 8–10 years after cutting was 41% to 62% higher than in untreated plots, with stand structure, treatment, tree position relative to skidding trails, growth before cutting and time having significant interactions. The stand structure conditioned tree growth after cutting, being doubled in younger and denser stands. Tree spatial position had a pronounced effect on radial growth; trees at the edge of the skidding trails showed twice the increase in growth compared to interior trees. Dominant trees before cutting located close to the skidding trails manifested the highest growth response after cutting. This research suggests that the studied treatments are effective to enhance radial wood production of black spruce especially in younger stands, and that the edge effect must be considered in silvicultural management planning.

It was the goal of this study to investigate the influence of different upper soil conditions on the germination and establishment, as well as the growth, of young plants of various tree species. For this purpose, four test plots in the region of the BlackForest were laid out, in which, by various means of site preparation and fertilization, the upper soils were changed. Natural seeding of common spruce, European silver-fir, beech, sycamore maple, European mountainash, and grey alder was simulated by means of controlled sowing. For comparison, a greenhouse experiment was carried out, examining the germination and development of the same tree species in various soil substrata, using different fertilizers, and under the influence of artificial acid rain. The most important results - with a high level of variation depending on the tree species examined - can be summarized as follows: Based on the results of field and greenhouse experiments, as well as on the investigations of other authors, it can be concluded that natural regeneration of forest stands is considerably impeded under conditions of increasing soil acidity and by high acid depositions. This is seen directly as the result of unfavorable chemical conditions in the upper soil, as well as indirectly due to deteriorating competitiveness against other vegetation. Site preparation and lime or dolomite fertilization can be important measures in the practice of forestry, to encourage natural regeneration in highly acidic sites with an unfavourable humus layer and a high presence of competing vegetation. (orig./UWA). 2 figs., 85 tabs., 269 refs [de

Soil carbon represents a significant component of the global carbon cycle. While fire-based disturbance of forest ecosystems acts as a carbon source, the increased temperatures can initiate molecular changes to forest biomass that convert fast cycling organic carbon into more stable forms such as black carbon (BC), a product of incomplete combustion that contains highly-condensed aromatic structures and very low hydrogen and oxygen content. Such forms of carbon can remain in the soil for hundred to thousands of years, effectively creating a long-term carbon sink. The goal of this project is to understand how specific characteristics of prescribed burns, specifically the season of burn and the interval between burns, affect the formation, structure, and retention of these slowly degrading forms of carbon in the soil. Both O-horizon (forest floor) and mineral soil (0-15 cm cores) samples were collected from a season and interval of burn study in Malheur National Forest. The study area is divided into six replicate units, each of which is sub-divided into four treatment areas and a control. Beginning in 1997, each treatment area was subjected to: i) spring burns at five-year intervals, ii) fall burns at five-year intervals, iii) spring burns at 15-year intervals, or iv) fall burns at 15-year intervals. The bulk density, pH, and C/N content of each soil were measured to assess the effect of the burn treatments on the soil. Additionally, the amount and molecular structure of BC in each sample was quantified using the distribution of specific molecular markers (benzene polycarboxylic acids or BPCAs) that are present in the soil following acid digestion.

Black ash (Fraxinus nigra) mortality caused by the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) is of concern to land managers in the upper Great Lakes region, given the large areas of ash-dominated forest and potential alteration of wetland hydrology following loss of this foundation tree species. The importance of changes in evapotranspiration (ET) following...

We measured organic-layer (OL) recovery and carbon stocks in dead woody debris a decade after wildfire in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) forests of interior Alaska. Previous study at these research plots has shown the strong role that landscape position plays in governing the proportion of OL consumed during fire and revegetation after...

Fire is an important factor controlling the composition and thickness of the organic layer in the black spruce forest ecosystems of interior Alaska. Fire that burns the organic layer can trigger dramatic changes in the underlying permafrost, leading to accelerated ground thawing within a relatively short time. In this study, we addressed the following questions. (1)...

The author has identified the following significant results. Eucalyptus tree stands killed by low temperatures in December 1972 were outlined by image enhancement of two separate dates of ERTS-1 images (January 22, 1973-I.D. 1183-18175 and April 22, 1973-I.D. 1273-18183). Three stands larger than 500 meters in size were detected very accurately. In Colorado, range and grassland communities were analyzed by visual interpretation of color composite scene I.D. 1028-17135. It was found that mixtures of plant litter, amount and kind of bare soil, and plant foliage cover made classification of grasslands very difficult. Changes in forest land use were detected on areas as small as 5 acres when ERTS-1 color composite scene 1264-15445 (April 13, 1973) was compared with 1966 ASCS index mosaics (scale 1:60,000). Verification of the changes were made from RB-57 underflight CIR transparencies (scale 1:120,000).

We sought to quantify changes in tree species composition, forest structure and aboveground forest biomass (AGB) over 76 years (1930-2006) in the deciduous Black Rock Forest in southeastern New York, USA. We used data from periodic forest inventories, published floras and a set of eight long-term plots, along with species-specific allometric equations to estimate AGB and carbon content. Between the early 1930s and 2000, three species were extirpated from the forest (American elm (Ulmus americana L.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) and black spruce (Picea mariana (nigra) (Mill.) BSP)) and seven species invaded the forest (non-natives tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle) and white poplar (Populus alba L.) and native, generally southerly distributed, southern catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides Walt.), cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli L.), red mulberry (Morus rubra L.), eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.) and slippery elm (Ulmus rubra Muhl.)). Forest canopy was dominated by red oak and chestnut oak, but the understory tree community changed substantially from mixed oak-maple to red maple-black birch. Density decreased from an average of 1500 to 735 trees ha(-1), whereas basal area doubled from less than 15 m(2) ha(-1) to almost 30 m(2) ha(-1) by 2000. Forest-wide mean AGB from inventory data increased from about 71 Mg ha(-1) in 1930 to about 145 Mg ha(-1) in 1985, and mean AGB on the long-term plots increased from 75 Mg ha(-1) in 1936 to 218 Mg ha(-1) in 1998. Over 76 years, red oak (Quercus rubra L.) canopy trees stored carbon at about twice the rate of similar-sized canopy trees of other species. However, there has been a significant loss of live tree biomass as a result of canopy tree mortality since 1999. Important constraints on long-term biomass increment have included insect outbreaks and droughts.

In the wake of the failures to date of well-publicized multilateral and multi-sectoral mitigation efforts to control greenhouse gases, attention is now increasingly focused on the effectiveness and capacity of national and sub-national level sectoral plans, including forestry, to usher in a new era of adaptation efforts. In Canada, the government of British Columbia spent several years developing its Future Forest Ecosystems Initiative as part of a larger climate change response strategy in the forest sector. Similarly, in the United States, wildfire related events have led to climate change inspired efforts by individual states (e.g., Alaska, California) and the US Forest Service has recently undertaken plans to incorporate climate change considerations in national forest planning beginning with the National Road Map for Responding to Climate Change. This paper highlights a number of shortcomings with both these national and sub-national strategies with respect to the relationships existing between governance, forestry and climate change. It proposes incorporating considerations of governance mechanisms directly into forest sector planning and the need to assess not only natural system level changes but also the extent to which new problems can be dealt with by ‘old’ or ‘new’ governance arrangements

Atmospheric sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide loads have caused an acidification of numerous surface waters in the calcium-deficient regions of Europe. The effects of acidification on aquatic organisms was examined in the Northern BlackForest. High acid loads and correlatively high aluminium loads were found to decrease the diversity of aquatic species. Both in wild conditions and in the aquarium embryonic and larval mortality rates were seen to be elevated, leading to a decrease in population of many species. Sublethal impairments such as damage to organs or growth or behavioural disorders were also found. The observed changes in amphibian spawn and populations were used exemplarily as a bioindication of the acid state of the 37 standing waters studied. (orig.) [de

Natural fire return intervals are relatively long in eastern Canadian boreal forests and often allow for the development of stands with multiple, successive cohorts of trees. Multi-cohort forest management (MCM) provides a strategy to maintain such multi-cohort stands that focuses on three broad phases of increasingly complex, post-fire stand development, termed "cohorts", and recommends different silvicultural approaches be applied to emulate different cohort types. Previous research on structural cohort typing has relied upon primarily subjective classification methods; in this thesis, I develop more comprehensive and objective methods for three common boreal mixedwood and black spruce forest types in northeastern Ontario. Additionally, I examine relationships between cohort types and stand age, productivity, and disturbance history and the utility of airborne LiDAR to retrieve ground-based classifications and to extend structural cohort typing from plot- to stand-levels. In both mixedwood and black spruce forest types, stand age and age-related deadwood features varied systematically with cohort classes in support of an age-based interpretation of increasing cohort complexity. However, correlations of stand age with cohort classes were surprisingly weak. Differences in site productivity had a significant effect on the accrual of increasingly complex multi-cohort stand structure in both forest types, especially in black spruce stands. The effects of past harvesting in predictive models of class membership were only significant when considered in isolation of age. As an age-emulation strategy, the three cohort model appeared to be poorly suited to black spruce forests where the accrual of structural complexity appeared to be more a function of site productivity than age. Airborne LiDAR data appear to be particularly useful in recovering plot-based cohort types and extending them to the stand-level. The main gradients of structural variability detected using Li

Ecologically similar species often coexist by partitioning use of habitats or resources. Such partitioning can occur through divergent or shared niches. We investigated overlap in habitat use and spatial co-occurrence by sympatric Asiatic black bears and sun bears in three habitats in Thailand, and thereby assessed which niche model best accounts for their coexistence. We used density of species-specific signs to assess habitat use. Signs of both bear species occurred in all three habitats, and on >60% of sampling transects. Both species fed mostly on fruit; insect feeding signs were uncommon, and were mostly from sun bears. Significant differences in habitat use occurred only in montane forest, the habitat in which fruit was most abundant; incidence of black bear sign there was six times higher than that of sun bears. Habitat use was similar between the two species in the other habitats, which comprised 85% of the area. Of 10 habitat attributes examined, fruiting tree density was the best predictor of occurrence for both species. Models that included interspecific competition (fresh foraging activity of the other species) were less supported than the top models without competition. Bear species co-occurrence at both coarse and fine spatial scales and use of the same resources (fruit trees) indicated common niche preferences. However, their habitat use differed in ways expected from their physical differences: larger black bears dominated in the most fruit-rich habitat, and smaller sun bears used less-preferred insects. These results indicate broadly overlapping fundamental niches combined with asymmetric competition-features consistent with the concept of shared preference niches. This model of the niche has received little attention in ecology, but appears to be relatively common in nature.

Full Text Available Ecologically similar species often coexist by partitioning use of habitats or resources. Such partitioning can occur through divergent or shared niches. We investigated overlap in habitat use and spatial co-occurrence by sympatric Asiatic black bears and sun bears in three habitats in Thailand, and thereby assessed which niche model best accounts for their coexistence.We used density of species-specific signs to assess habitat use. Signs of both bear species occurred in all three habitats, and on >60% of sampling transects. Both species fed mostly on fruit; insect feeding signs were uncommon, and were mostly from sun bears. Significant differences in habitat use occurred only in montane forest, the habitat in which fruit was most abundant; incidence of black bear sign there was six times higher than that of sun bears. Habitat use was similar between the two species in the other habitats, which comprised 85% of the area. Of 10 habitat attributes examined, fruiting tree density was the best predictor of occurrence for both species. Models that included interspecific competition (fresh foraging activity of the other species were less supported than the top models without competition.Bear species co-occurrence at both coarse and fine spatial scales and use of the same resources (fruit trees indicated common niche preferences. However, their habitat use differed in ways expected from their physical differences: larger black bears dominated in the most fruit-rich habitat, and smaller sun bears used less-preferred insects. These results indicate broadly overlapping fundamental niches combined with asymmetric competition-features consistent with the concept of shared preference niches. This model of the niche has received little attention in ecology, but appears to be relatively common in nature.

... on a proposal to use multiple vegetation treatments focused on reducing the threat to ecosystem components including forest resources from an existing insect epidemic (mountain pine beetle), creating a landscape condition that reduces the potential for high severity wildfire adjacent to the at-risk community...

... Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement... near at-risk communities and in the wildland-urban interface. The proposal is being planned for the 31... acres of pine stands using a variety of methods to treat MPB infested stands, reduce the overall density...

Full Text Available Abstract:Black flies have medical importance because some species are vectors of the Onchocerciasis and Mansonelosis, nevertheless, their ecology and potential use as bioindicators is still poorly studied in the Neotropical Region. In Brazil, bioindicators use is strongly focused in a multimetrical ecological index approach; this way, we investigated the black fly spatial distribution, in relation to abiotic factors correlated to water quality, to provide baseline information for their utilization as standalone indicators of lotic systems integrity. We have tested the hypothesis that environmental changes related to urbanization, lead to decreased abundance and loss in the number of species of the black fly fauna. The sampling was conducted in 10 urban and 10 preserved streams during the dry season (August-September of 2012, in the mountainous region of Teresópolis, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The streams were characterized for their environmental integrity conditions and physico-chemical properties of water. In each stream, five different rapid points were sampled in a section of 50 meters, 10 meters apart from each other. The black flies were sampled with a kick-net sampler on rocky substrates. The material was separated and the larvae were sorted in morphotypes, and later, the final instar specimens were dissected and identified with the help of taxonomical literature at species level. A total abundance of 488 larvae from nine species were collected, 5 (1.02 % in extremely impacted streams, 470 (96.31 % in intermediate streams and 13 (2.66 % in preserved streams. The visual evaluation (HII differed in rela&tion to the water physico-chemical evaluation, in which more variation in the characterization of the sampling sites was observed. In Canonical Correspondence Analysis Simulium subpallidum, S. inscrustatumand S. pertinaxwere significantly associated with intermediate values of most of the variables, and then to intermediate impacted

Black flies have medical importance because some species are vectors of the unenocerciasis and Mansonelosis, nevertheless, their ecology and potential use as bioindicators is still poorly studied in the Neotropical Region. In Brazil, bioindicators use is strongly focused in a multimetrical ecological index approach; this way, we investigated the black fly spatial distribution, in relation to abiotic factors correlated to water quality, to provide baseline information for their utilization as standalone indicators of lotic systems integrity. We have tested the hypothesis that environmental changes related to urbanization, lead to decreased abundance and loss in the number of species of the black fly fauna. The sampling was conducted in 10 urban and 10 preserved streams during the dry season (August-September) of 2012, in the mountainous region of Teres6polis, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The streams were characterized for their environmental integrity conditions and physico-chemical properties of water. In each stream, five different rapid points were sampled in a section of 50 meters, 10 meters apart from each other. The black flies were sampled with a kick-net sampler on rocky substrates. The material was separated and the larvae were sorted in morphotypes, and later, the final instar specimens were dissected and identified with the help of taxonomical literature at species level. A total abundance of 488 larvae from nine species were collected, 5 (1.02 %) in extremely impacted streams, 470 (96.31 %) in intermediate streams and 13 (2.66 %) in preserved streams. The visual evaluation (HII) differed in relation to the water physico-chemical evaluation, in which more variation in the characterization of the sampling sites was observed. In Canonical Correspondence Analysis Simulium subpallidum, S. inscrustatum and S. pertinax were significantly associated with intermediate values of most of the variables, and then to intermediate impacted sites. On the other hand

Forests have the capacity to trap and retain radionuclides for a substantial period of time. The dynamic behaviour of nutrients, pollution and radionuclides in forests is complex. The rotation period of a forest stand in the Nordic countries is about 100 years, whilst the time for decomposition of organic material in a forest environment can be several hundred years. This means that any countermeasure applied in the forest environment must have an effect for several decades, or be reapplied continuously for long periods of time. To mitigate the detrimental effect of a contaminated forest environment on man, and to minimise the economic loss in trade of contaminated forest products, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms of transfer of radionuclides through the forest environment. It must also be stressed that any countermeasure applied in the forest environment must be evaluated with respect to long, as well as short term, negative effects, before any decision about remedial action is taken. Of the radionuclides studied in forests in the past, radiocaesium has been the main contributor to dose to man. In this document, only radiocaesium will be discussed since data on the impact of other radionuclides on man are too scarce for a proper evaluation. (EG)

We used geographical information system to analyze changes in forest ecosystem functions, structure and composition in a typical department of forest man-agement area consisting of four forest management plan-ning units in Turkey. To assess these effects over a 25 year period we compiled data from three forest management plans that were made in 1986, 2001 and 2011. Temporal changes in forest ecosystem functions were estimated based on the three pillars of forest sustainability: eco-nomics, ecology and socio-culture. We assessed a few indicators such as land-use and forest cover, forest types, tree species, development stage, stand age classes, crown closure, growing stock and its increment, and timber bio-mass. The results of the case study suggested a shift in forest values away from economic values toward ecologi-cal and socio-cultural values over last two planning peri-ods. Forest ecosystem structure improved, due mainly to increasing forest area, decreasing non-forest areas (espe-cially in settlement and agricultural areas), forestation on forest openings, rehabilitation of degraded forests, con-version of even-aged forests to uneven-aged forests and conversion of coppice forests to high forests with greater growing stock increments. There were also favorable changes in forest management planning approaches.

According to our working hypothesis a virus infection could be responsible for an important part of the forest decline, causing a premature, untypical senescence of the affected trees which is due to a disturbed hormone balance. The previous results show that virus-like particles (VLP) are very widely distributed in coniferous trees of southern Central Europe. Moreover, distinct disturbances occur in the balance of the so far examined hormones - ethylene and abscisic acid (AbA) - in the case of disease or a strong SO/sub 2/-impact on the site. They happen on the background of normal changes in the hormone contents which depend on season, age (age of tree, branch and needle) or exposition and which differ from each other on sites with a strong SO/sub 2/-impact and on those with a low or missing one. They show that SO/sub 2/-damage and forest decline in the examined area are two different things. The occurrence of VLP seems to disturb the ethylene balance considerably.

Boreal forests are an integral component in obtaining a predictive understanding of global climate change because they comprise 33% of the world's forests and store large amounts of carbon. Much of this carbon storage is a result of peat formation in cold, poorly-drained soils. Transpiration plays a crucial role in the interaction between carbon and water cycles due to stomatal control of these fluxes. The primary focus of this study is to quantify the spatial variability and drivers of tree transpiration in boreal forest stands across a well- to poorly-drained soil drainage gradient. Species composition of this region of boreal forest changes during succession in well-drained soils from being primarily dominated by Picea mariana with co-dominant Pinus banksiana and Populus tremuloides in younger stands to being dominated solely by Picea marianain older stands. Poorly-drained soils are dominated by Picea mariana and change little with succession. Previous work in well-drained stands showed that 1) tree transpiration changed substantially with stand age due to sapwood-to-leaf area ratio dynamics and 2) minimum leaf water potential (Ψ) was kept constant to prevent excessive cavitation. We hypothesized that 1) minimum Ψ would be constant, 2) transpiration would be proportional to the sapwood-to-leaf area ratio across a soil drainage gradient, and 3) spatial relationships between trees would vary depending on stomatal responses to vapor pressure deficit (D). We tested these hypotheses by measuring Ψ of 33 trees and sap flux from 204 trees utilizing cyclic sampling constructed to study spatial relationships. Measurements were conducted at a 42-year-old stand representing maximum tree diversity during succession. There were no significant differences between growing season averaged Ψ in well- (-0.35 and -1.37 for pre-dawn and mid-day respectively) and poorly- drained soil conditions (-0.38 and -1.41 for pre-dawn and mid-day respectively) for Picea mariana. Water use

Full Text Available This article describes the data on breeding ecology of the Black Kite breeding in shelter belts in south-eastern part of Altai Region. The length of the shelter belts studied in this work was 50 km. Through the period of this study a 72 nests of this species were revealed. We studied nesting preferences of Black Kites towards different wood species, ontogenetic state of trees, trunk diameter and tree strength using Ivlev-Jacobs electivity index. As a result we establish that the most preferable wood species is poplar (Populus sp. (electivity index is 0.5, birch (Betula sp. is used proportioned to its abundance (-0.02, and pine (Pinus silvestris and maple (Acer sp. are mostly ignored. Kites also prefer middle-aged generative trees (0.74 and avoid old ones (-0,18. Trees with trunk diameter 31–40 cm considered as most preferable (0,23. And trees with trunk diameter 21–30 cm is used proportioned to its abundance (-0,04. Trees with another trunk diameter are mostly ignored or completely avoided. Based on the index of tree strength (ITS we established that Kites breeding in the shelter belts prefer trees with ITS = 1.6–2.0 (0.31, trees with ITT = 1.1–1.5 and ITT = 2.1–2.5 are used proportioned to its abundance (-0.02 and -0.07, respectively, and trees with ITT above 2.6 or below 1 are ignored.

Anisotropy in magnetotelluric (MT) data has been found very often and has been explained as the result of local structures of different conductivities. In this paper, an observed anisotropy in MT data is not interpreted qualitatively in terms of local structures but is modelled quantitatively by a quasi-anisotropic layer. Besides the MT transfer functions, measurements of the vertical magnetic component are required. The second goal of this paper is to describe a method which permits the resolution of mid-crustal conductive layers in the presence of an additional high-conductivity layer at the surface. This method is possible in a two-dimensional (2-D) situation that limits the spatial extension of the surface structure. Again, vertical magnetic field recordings are necessary, but the phase of the E-polarization with respect to the 2-D structure is the most sensitive parameter. Using two field sites in Southern Germany, it has been possible to give a quantitative explanation of anisotropy and an improved depth resolution, and to derive an integrated conductivity of the highly conductive mid-crustal layers using MT and geomagnetic depth sounding data. The anisotropic highly conductive layer is located 12 km beneath the poorly conductive BlackForest crystalline rocks, whereas it is at a depth of 6 km beneath the highly conductive Rhine Graben sediments.

Full Text Available Soil respiration is a major carbon pathway sensitive to environmental changes. Using prescribed burnings to reduce fuel accumulation and lower risks of large-scale wildfires has recently become more important. Prescribed burning can significantly alter the soil environment, but its effect in practice on soil respiration is not sufficiently understood. We evaluated the effects of prescribed burning on soil respiration before and after burning (May–July 2016. Prescribed burning was conducted in two natural pine areas by comparing a mixed stand of Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii with Pinus pinaster Ait. to a pure stand of Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii in the central Iberian Peninsula. Soil respiration was measured by an EGM-4 (Environmental Gas Monitor infrared gas analyser in both burned and unburned (control plots. Burnings were low-intensity, and slightly more energetic in the pure stand given its larger litter volume. Post-burning soil respiration followed a similar evolution to that in the control plots, but was greater in the pure stand burned zone and slightly lower in the burned plots in the mixed stand. No significant differences were found in any stand. Soil respiration significantly changed in temporal evolution due to increasing temperatures when summer began. We conclude that prescribed fire induces no changes in SR immediately after fire. This study helps understand how prescribed burnings can affect soil respiration in pure and mixed Spanish black pine forest stands.

Full Text Available Sustainable Forest Management (SFM should be able to produce an optimal level of bundle of Ecosystem Services (ES, thus ensuring more resilient forest ecosystems also creating benefits for local population and human well-being. Yet, choosing between alternative forest management practices is not straightforward as it necessarily involves ES trade-offs. Forest management decisions have to reconcile the socio-economic and ecological contributions of forest ecosystems by fostering a synergistic relation between multiple ES while lowering ES trade-offs. The aim of the study is to analyze different forest management practices (selective and traditional thinning in black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy, by investigating their contribution in terms of provisioning (wood production, cultural (recreational benefits, regulating (climate change mitigation ES. For each management option was performed: (1 the biophysical assessment of selected ES by using primary data and calculating indicators for wood production with special regard to biomass for energy use (living trees and deadwood volume harvested, recreational benefits (tourists’ preferences for each forest management practice, climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass, and (2 the economic valuation of wood production, recreational benefits and climate change mitigation ES using direct and indirect methods (environmental evaluation techniques. The results show that the effects of the selective thinning on ES is higher that the effects of the traditional thinning. The economic value of the three ES provided by traditional and selective thinning are respectively: bioenergy production 154.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 223.3 € ha-1 yr-1; recreational benefits 193.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 231.9 € ha-1 yr-1; carbon sequestration 29.0 € ha-1 yr-1and 36.2 € ha-1 yr-1. The integrated (biophysical and economic assessment of ES in addition to the trade

Western North American forests are shaped by natural disturbances, which are an important driver of habitat heterogeneity and species diversity. Wildfire and bark beetle infestations are of particular interest to resource managers because of their widespread occurrence and potential economic impacts. These naturally occurring disturbances create habitat for numerous...

Non-destructive measurements of light penetration were made at 10 heights in the canopy on twelve different sites in the PA oak forest where the Blackmo 88 spray-micrometeorological experiment was conducted. Vertical profiles of Leaf Area Index, LAI, were calculated from these measurements, and the data were used to define the spatial variability of the forest canopy...

Aerial- and ground-sampled emissions from three prescribed forest burns in the southeastern U.S. were compared to emissions from laboratory open burn tests using biomass from the same locations. A comprehensive array of emissions, including PM2.5, black carbon (BC), brown carbon ...

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7925.2009v22n3p203 Our objective in this study was to examine the frugivory performed by the black-eared opossum, Didelphis aurita Wied-Neuwied, 1826, in an area of the coastal Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil, including differences between sexes, seasonal variation, and relationships to other sympatric marsupials. We collected 63 fecal samples from a trap grid over a six-month period and analyzed seed presence, seed number and richness, and diversity of fruit species in feces. Diversity of fruit items was estimated by the Shannon index. Results showed a high variability in fruit consumption along the seasons, but no sexual difference in consumption. Sympatric marsupial species, including D. aurita, showed substantial differences in frugivory which may be related to body size, space use and differences in the foraging behavior of such species.

Boreal forests contain significant quantities of soil carbon that may be oxidized to CO2 given future increases in climate warming and wildfire behavior. At the ecosystem scale, decomposition and heterotrophic respiration are strongly controlled by temperature and moisture, but we questioned whether changes in microbial biomass, activity, or...

Black bears are the bears people most often encounter. Black bears live in forests over much of North America, unlike grizzlies that live only in Alaska, northern and western Canada, and the northern Rocky Mountains. This brochure presents the latest information on black bear life and how this species responds to an ever-increasing number of campers, hikers, and...

There is a substantial amount of carbon stored in the permafrost soils of boreal forest ecosystems, where it is currently protected from decomposition. The surface organic horizons insulate the deeper soil from variations in atmospheric temperature. The removal of these insulating horizons through consumption by fire increases the vulnerability of permafrost to thaw, and the carbon stored in permafrost to decomposition. In this study we ask how warming and fire regime may influence spatial and temporal changes in active layer and carbon dynamics across a boreal forest landscape in interior Alaska. To address this question, we (1) developed and tested a predictive model of the effect of fire severity on soil organic horizons that depends on landscape-level conditions and (2) used this model to evaluate the long-term consequences of warming and changes in fire regime on active layer and soil carbon dynamics of black spruce forests across interior Alaska. The predictive model of fire severity, designed from the analysis of field observations, reproduces the effect of local topography (landform category, the slope angle and aspect and flow accumulation), weather conditions (drought index, soil moisture) and fire characteristics (day of year and size of the fire) on the reduction of the organic layer caused by fire. The integration of the fire severity model into an ecosystem process-based model allowed us to document the relative importance and interactions among local topography, fire regime and climate warming on active layer and soil carbon dynamics. Lowlands were more resistant to severe fires and climate warming, showing smaller increases in active layer thickness and soil carbon loss compared to drier flat uplands and slopes. In simulations that included the effects of both warming and fire at the regional scale, fire was primarily responsible for a reduction in organic layer thickness of 0.06 m on average by 2100 that led to an increase in active layer thickness

The main objective of this study was to estimate the population density and demographic structure of spider monkeys living in wet forest in the vicinity of Sirena Biological Station, Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica. Results of a 14-month line-transect survey showed that spider monkeys of Sirena have one of the highest population densities ever recorded for this genus. Density estimates varied, however, depending on the method chosen to estimate transect width. Data from behavioral monitoring were available to compare density estimates derived from the survey, providing a check of the survey's accuracy. A combination of factors has most probably contributed to the high density of Ateles, including habitat protection within a national park and high diversity of trees of the fig family, Moraceae. Although natural densities of spider monkeys at Sirena are substantially higher than those recorded at most other sites and in previous studies at this site, mean subgroup size and age ratios were similar to those determined in previous studies. Sex ratios were similar to those of other sites with high productivity. Although high densities of preferred fruit trees in the wet, productive forests of Sirena may support a dense population of spider monkeys, other demographic traits recorded at Sirena fall well within the range of values recorded elsewhere for the species.

Full Text Available Our objective was to model the average wood density in black spruce trees in representative stands across a boreal forest landscape based on relationships with predictor variables extracted from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR point cloud data. Increment core samples were collected from dominant or co-dominant black spruce trees in a network of 400 m2 plots distributed among forest stands representing the full range of species composition and stand development across a 1,231,707 ha forest management unit in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Wood quality data were generated from optical microscopy, image analysis, X-ray densitometry and diffractometry as employed in SilviScan™. Each increment core was associated with a set of field measurements at the plot level as well as a suite of LiDAR-derived variables calculated on a 20 × 20 m raster from a wall-to-wall coverage at a resolution of ~1 point m−2. We used a multiple linear regression approach to identify important predictor variables and describe relationships between stand structure and wood density for average black spruce trees in the stands we observed. A hierarchical classification model was then fitted using random forests to make spatial predictions of mean wood density for average trees in black spruce stands. The model explained 39 percent of the variance in the response variable, with an estimated root mean square error of 38.8 (kg·m−3. Among the predictor variables, P20 (second decile LiDAR height in m and quadratic mean diameter were most important. Other predictors describing canopy depth and cover were of secondary importance and differed according to the modeling approach. LiDAR-derived variables appear to capture differences in stand structure that reflect different constraints on growth rates, determining the proportion of thin-walled earlywood cells in black spruce stems, and ultimately influencing the pattern of variation in important wood quality attributes

Knowledge about the long-term influences of climate change on the amount of potential carbon (C) sequestration in forest ecosystems, including age-related dynamics, remains unclear. This study used two similar age-sequences of black locust forests (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in the semi-arid and semi-humid zones of China's Loess Plateau to assess the variation in C stocks and age-related dynamics. Our results demonstrated that black locust forests of the semi-humid zone stored significantly more C than did forests in the semi-arid zone, across the chronosequence (p zone, while the semi-arid zone had a capacity of only 79.4 Mg C ha-1. Soil organic C (SOC) increased continuously with stand age in the semi-arid zone (R2 = 0.84, p = 0.010). However, in the semi-humid zone, SOC declined sharply by 47.8% after the initial stage (5 to 10 y). The C stock in trees increased continuously with stand age in the semi-humid zone (R2 = 0.83, p = 0.011), yet in the semi-arid zone, it decreased dramatically from 43.0 Mg C ha-1 to 28.4 Mg C ha-1 during the old forest stage (38 to 56 y). The shift from being a net C sink to a net C source occurred at the initial stage in the semi-humid zone versus at the old forest stage in the semi-arid zone after reforestation. Surprisingly, with the exception of the initial and later stages (55 y), the patterns of C allocation among trees, soils, understory and litter were not statistically different between the two climate zones. Our results suggest that climate factors can alter the potential amount and age-related dynamics of forest C sequestration.

Knowledge about the long-term influences of climate change on the amount of potential carbon (C) sequestration in forest ecosystems, including age-related dynamics, remains unclear. This study used two similar age-sequences of black locust forests (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) in the semi-arid and semi-humid zones of China’s Loess Plateau to assess the variation in C stocks and age-related dynamics. Our results demonstrated that black locust forests of the semi-humid zone stored significantly more C than did forests in the semi-arid zone, across the chronosequence (p zone, while the semi-arid zone had a capacity of only 79.4 Mg C ha−1. Soil organic C (SOC) increased continuously with stand age in the semi-arid zone (R2 = 0.84, p = 0.010). However, in the semi-humid zone, SOC declined sharply by 47.8% after the initial stage (5 to 10 y). The C stock in trees increased continuously with stand age in the semi-humid zone (R2 = 0.83, p = 0.011), yet in the semi-arid zone, it decreased dramatically from 43.0 Mg C ha−1 to 28.4 Mg C ha−1 during the old forest stage (38 to 56 y). The shift from being a net C sink to a net C source occurred at the initial stage in the semi-humid zone versus at the old forest stage in the semi-arid zone after reforestation. Surprisingly, with the exception of the initial and later stages (55 y), the patterns of C allocation among trees, soils, understory and litter were not statistically different between the two climate zones. Our results suggest that climate factors can alter the potential amount and age-related dynamics of forest C sequestration. PMID:25799100

How far do ecologically optimized small hydropower systems (diversion type) still alter a river ecosystem? How can negative impacts be mitigated and compensated? To get more insight into these strategic important questions, a long-term case study (10 years) at the river Elz, BlackForest, has been implemented in 1999. The pre- and post-project analysis of the new 320-kW hydropower station (Wasserkraft Volk AG) uses methods of hydromorphological and biological monitoring in combination with ecological modeling (CASIMIR). After two years of hydropower operation, preliminary results show that the ecological sustainability of the directly affected river stretch (2 km) is still in good order. It can be shown that especially small fish species and earlier fish life stages profit from the water withdrawal while the habitat of adult brown trout is reduced even so an extraordinary environmental flow is released in the river bed. Restoration of riparian cover structures and foru new fishpasses help to compensate this unavoidable loss. Even if it is yet to early to audit all negative and positive aspects, the hydropower plant under investigation is an excellent example how a fair compromise between nature conservation, renewable energy supply and economics can be achieved. (orig.)

From the 1973 discovered Upper Carboniferous uranium ore sandstone deposit in the Baden-Baden region (BlackForest) a uranium-bearing coalificated wood remain derived, probably the relic of a Cordaites-trunk. The chemical determinated whole uranium content of this amounts about to 40 wght.-%. Pitchblende of the collomorphic type is embedded in the vitrinite of the fossil and imitates the nearly destroyed former wood-structure. The aggregates of this mineral, surrounded by zones of contact, consist of at least two modifications of different reflectance and hardness. Radiometric analyses reveale a different disturbed radioactive equilibrium, which indicated partly loss and re-enrichment of the uranium-content in recent time. A part of the fossil is completely mineralized by pitchblende of high reflectance and associated galena. For this paragenesis the radiometric investigations proved an approached equilibrium of radioactive substances. Therefore it is to be estimated, that the pitchblende is not alterated substantially, in contrast to the embeddings in the vitrinite, rich in little reflecting and soft nasturanium. The inhomogenic mineralization of the highly coalificated fossil, also to recognise microscopically, is set in relation to the controverse genetic interpretation of the deposit. Final remarks are concerned to other uranium-enriched fossils, especially remains of bones of different origin and age. (orig.) [de

Biomass burning in the Alaskan interior is already a major disturbance and source of carbon emissions, and is likely to increase in response to the warming and drying predicted for the future climate. In addition to quantifying changes to the spatial and temporal patterns of burned areas, observing variations in severity is the key to studying the impact of changes to the fire regime on carbon cycling, energy budgets, and post-fire succession. Remote sensing indices of fire severity have not consistently been well-correlated with in situ observations of important severity characteristics in Alaskan black spruce stands, including depth of burning of the surface organic layer. The incorporation of ancillary data such as in situ observations and GIS layers with spectral data from Landsat TM/ETM+ greatly improved efforts to map the reduction of the organic layer in burned black spruce stands. Using a regression tree approach, the R2 of the organic layer depth reduction models was 0.60 and 0.55 (pb0.01) for relative and absolute depth reduction, respectively. All of the independent variables used by the regression tree to estimate burn depth can be obtained independently of field observations. Implementation of a gradient boosting algorithm improved the R2 to 0.80 and 0.79 (pb0.01) for absolute and relative organic layer depth reduction, respectively. Independent variables used in the regression tree model of burn depth included topographic position, remote sensing indices related to soil and vegetation characteristics, timing of the fire event, and meteorological data. Post-fire organic layer depth characteristics are determined for a large (N200,000 ha) fire to identify areas that are potentially vulnerable to a shift in post-fire succession. This application showed that 12% of this fire event experienced fire severe enough to support a change in post-fire succession. We conclude that non-parametric models and ancillary data are useful in the modeling of the surface

Full Text Available This study analyzes the structure and floristic composition of the regeneration of native forest species under black-wattle plantation, established 16 years ago in a riparian area, and it verifies the possibility of the black-wattle be considered an invasive species of this environment. The tree stratum (circumference at breast height (CBH ≥15 cm was evaluated in 12 plots of 100 m2, established in four blocks. The natural regeneration stratum (0.3 m height to <15 cm CBH was evaluated in two subplots of 9 m2, established in opposite vertexes of each plot. The tree stratum was composed by 26 species of 14 families and the natural regeneration stratum by 49 species of 23 families. The Shannon diversity index for species, considering all plots, was 2.60 and 3.06 to the tree and natural regeneration strata, respectively. The native species, Casearia sylvestris, Myrsine lorentziana and Zanthoxylum petiolare presented the larger importance value in the tree stratum and Faramea marginata, Myrsine lorentziana and Myrcia glabra the biggest density in the natural regeneration stratum. The ecological characteristics of the species found in several height strata indicated that the forest succession process is in evolution. The black-wattle did not regenerate in this area and the planted trees of this species are in the senescence phase. Only 100 tree/ha of black-wattle were found, which represents 4.5% of the original population. Thus, black-wattle is not an invasive species for this environment.

Full Text Available Knowledge about the long-term influences of climate change on the amount of potential carbon (C sequestration in forest ecosystems, including age-related dynamics, remains unclear. This study used two similar age-sequences of black locust forests (Robinia pseudoacacia L. in the semi-arid and semi-humid zones of China's Loess Plateau to assess the variation in C stocks and age-related dynamics. Our results demonstrated that black locust forests of the semi-humid zone stored significantly more C than did forests in the semi-arid zone, across the chronosequence (p < 0.001. The C carrying capacity of the plantations was measured at 166.4 Mg C ha-1 (1 Mg = 106 g in the semi-humid zone, while the semi-arid zone had a capacity of only 79.4 Mg C ha-1. Soil organic C (SOC increased continuously with stand age in the semi-arid zone (R2 = 0.84, p = 0.010. However, in the semi-humid zone, SOC declined sharply by 47.8% after the initial stage (5 to 10 y. The C stock in trees increased continuously with stand age in the semi-humid zone (R2 = 0.83, p = 0.011, yet in the semi-arid zone, it decreased dramatically from 43.0 Mg C ha-1 to 28.4 Mg C ha-1 during the old forest stage (38 to 56 y. The shift from being a net C sink to a net C source occurred at the initial stage in the semi-humid zone versus at the old forest stage in the semi-arid zone after reforestation. Surprisingly, with the exception of the initial and later stages (55 y, the patterns of C allocation among trees, soils, understory and litter were not statistically different between the two climate zones. Our results suggest that climate factors can alter the potential amount and age-related dynamics of forest C sequestration.

The deep soil layer (below 100 cm) stores considerable soil organic carbon (SOC). We can reveal its stability and provide the basis for certification of the deep soil carbon sinks by studying the SOC mineralization in the deep soil layer. With the shallow soil layer (0-100 cm) as control, the SOC mineralization under the condition (temperature 15 degrees C, the soil water content 8%) of Black Locust forest in the deep soil layer (100-400 cm) of the hilly region of the Loess Plateau was studied. The results showed that: (1) There was a downward trend in the total SOC mineralization with the increase of soil depth. The total SOC mineralization in the sub-deep soil (100-200 cm) and deep soil (200-400 cm) were equivalent to approximately 88.1% and 67.8% of that in the shallow layer (0-100 cm). (2) Throughout the carbon mineralization process, the same as the shallow soil, the sub-deep and deep soil can be divided into 3 stages. In the rapid decomposition phase, the ratio of the mineralization or organic carbon to the total mineralization in the sub-deep and deep layer (0-10 d) was approximately 50% of that in the shallow layer (0-17 d). In the slow decomposition phase, the ratio of organic carbon mineralization to total mineralization in the sub-deep, deep layer (11-45 d) was 150% of that in the shallow layer (18-45 d). There was no significant difference in this ratio among these three layers (46-62 d) in the relatively stable stage. (3) There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the mineralization rate of SOC among the shallow, sub-deep, deep layers. The stability of SOC in the deep soil layer (100-400 cm) was similar to that in the shallow soil layer and the SOC in the deep soil layer was also involved in the global carbon cycle. The change of SOC in the deep soil layer should be taken into account when estimating the effects of soil carbon sequestration in the Hilly Region of the Loess Plateau, China.

Although the CERN School of Computing this year covered its traditional wide range of computing applications for high energy physics, particular emphasis was placed on new techniques for next generation experiments. High speed networks, parallel and vector processing, neural networks and expert systems are all shaping up to play an important role in the future

Although the CERN School of Computing this year covered its traditional wide range of computing applications for high energy physics, particular emphasis was placed on new techniques for next generation experiments. High speed networks, parallel and vector processing, neural networks and expert systems are all shaping up to play an important role in the future.

Pinus ponderosa Laws. (ponderosa pine) forests have changed considerably during the past century, partly because recurrent fires have been absent for a century or more. A number of studies have explored the influence of timber harvest or burning on understory production in ponderosa pine forests, but study designs incorporating cutting and prescribed...

A black ring is a five-dimensional black hole with an event horizon of topology S 1 x S 2 . We provide an introduction to the description of black rings in general relativity and string theory. Novel aspects of the presentation include a new approach to constructing black ring coordinates and a critical review of black ring microscopics. (topical review)

This article deals with two questions, namely whether it is possible for black holes to exist, and if the answer is yes, whether we have found any yet. In deciding whether black holes can exist or not the central role in the shaping of our universe played by the forse of gravity is discussed, and in deciding whether we are likely to find black holes in the universe the author looks at the way stars evolve, as well as white dwarfs and neutron stars. He also discusses the problem how to detect a black hole, possible black holes, a southern black hole, massive black holes, as well as why black holes are studied

Examines some aspects of the problem of alcoholism among Blacks, asserting that Black alcoholism can best be considered in an ecological, environmental, sociocultural, and public health context. Notes need for further research on alcoholism among Blacks and for action to reduce the problem of Black alcoholism. (NB)

Recent progress in black hole research is illustrated by three examples. We discuss the observational challenges that were met to show that a supermassive black hole exists at the center of our galaxy. Stellar-size black holes have been studied in x-ray binaries and microquasars. Finally, numerical simulations have become possible for the merger of black hole binaries.

Hieracium spp. (Asteraceae) are noted for their taxonomic complexity, frequent incidence of apomixis and polyploidy, and invasive tendencies. Here we report the Eurasian taxa, Hieracium caespitosum Dumort. and Hieracium piloselloides Vill., as recent additions to the flora of South Dakota. Plants were collected at three locations in the Black Hills during 2014 and 2015...

For the forest region of Klosterreichenbach, a map of the state of the lichen flora has been drawn up, based on investigations of lichens on trees in different states of decline and of various age categories, and covering various species of trees, growing in areas showing the typical signs of the novel types of forest damage, and in areas subjected to pollutant emissions of a nearby, heavily polluting emission source. In the close-in area of this emission source, forest decline has been found to be strongly correlated with a heavily depleted lichen flora. Beyond the area affected by the emission source, the degree of decline of the trees has been found to increase with tree hight and age, but the quality and quantity data taken of lichen flora on these trees showed an improving trend, which however is superimposed by climatic and biological factors. The final analysis of the data indicates that the novel types of forest damage can no longer be explained by air pollution alone. (VHE) With many figs. and tabs [de

Ecosystem models have not comprehensively considered how interactions among fire disturbance, soil environmental conditions, and biogeochemical processes affect ecosystem dynamics in boreal forest ecosystems. In this study, we implemented a dynamic organic soil structure in the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (DOS-TEM) to investigate the effects of fire on soil temperature...

Merriamâs Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) are associated with ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in the western United States, but are not native to the ponderosa pine forest of the Black Hills, South Dakota. The Black Hills population was established by transplanting birds from New Mexico and Colorado between 1948 and...

... mental alertness as well as learning, memory, and information processing skills. It is also used for treating headache; ... of carbamazepine. Since black tea contains caffeine, in theory taking black tea with carbamazepine might decrease the ...

This paper is concerned with several not-quantum aspects of black holes, with emphasis on theoretical and mathematical issues related to numerical modeling of black hole space-times. Part of the material has a review character, but some new results or proposals are also presented. We review the experimental evidence for existence of black holes. We propose a definition of black hole region for any theory governed by a symmetric hyperbolic system of equations. Our definition reproduces the usu...

Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Syn.: Cimicifuga racemosa), a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), is an erect perennial found in rich cove forests of Eastern North America from Georgia to Ontario. Native Americans used black cohosh for a variety of ailments including rheumatism, malaria, sore throats, and complications...

Black holes are among the most intriguing objects in modern physics. Their influence ranges from powering quasars and other active galactic nuclei, to providing key insights into quantum gravity. We review the observational evidence for black holes, and briefly discuss some of their properties. We also describe some recent developments involving cosmic censorship and the statistical origin of black hole entropy.

GIS-based remote sensing techniques and lineament mapping provide additional information on the spatial arrangement of faults and fractures in large areas with variable outcrop conditions. Due to inherent censoring and truncation bias mapping of lineaments is still a challenging task. In this study we show how statistical evaluations help to improve the reliability of lineament mappings by comparing two digital elevation models (ASTER, LIDAR) and satellite imagery data sets in the seismically active southern BlackForest. A statistical assessment of the orientation, average length, and the total length of mapped lineaments reveals an impact of the different resolutions of the data sets that allow to define maximum (censoring bias) and minimum (truncation bias) observable lineament length for each data set. The increase of the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model from 30 m × 30 m to 5 m × 5 m results in a decrease of total lineament length by about 40% whereby the average lineament lengths decrease by about 60%. Lineament length distributions of both data sets follow a power law distribution as documented elsewhere for fault and fracture systems. Predominant NE-, N-, NNW-, and NW-directions of the lineaments are observed in all data sets and correlate with well-known, mappable large-scale structures in the southern BlackForest. Therefore, mapped lineaments can be correlated with faults and hence display geological significance. Lineament density in the granite-dominated areas is apparently higher than in the gneiss-dominated areas. Application of a slip- and dilation tendency analysis on the fault pattern reveals largest reactivation potentials for WNW-ESE and N-S striking faults as strike-slip faults whereas normal faulting may occur along NW-striking faults within the ambient stress field. Remote sensing techniques in combination with highly resolved digital elevation models and a slip- and dilation tendency analysis thus can be used to quickly get

Full Text Available Terricolous lichens are an important component of boreal forest ecosystems, both in terms of function and diversity. In this study, we examined the relative contribution of microhabitat characteristics and time elapsed since the last fire in shaping terricolous lichen assemblages in boreal forests that are frequently affected by severe stand-replacing fires. We sampled 12 stands distributed across five age classes (from 43 to >200 years. In each stand, species cover (% of all terricolous lichen species and species richness were evaluated within 30 microplots of 1 m2. Our results show that time elapsed since the last fire was the factor that contributed the most to explaining terricolous lichen abundance and species composition, and that lichen cover showed a quadratic relationship with stand age. Habitat variables such as soil characteristics were also important in explaining lichen richness. These results suggest that the presence of suitable substrates is not sufficient for the conservation of late-successional terricolous lichen communities in this ecosystem, and that they also need relatively long periods of times for species dispersal and establishment.

Full Text Available The spatial distribution of Colombobalanus excelsa forests in the Cueva de los Guácharos Natural National Park and its buffer zone was determined. The forest’s structural parameters were determined by conducting a stratified forest inventory that consisted of four plots of 0.5 ha distributed in two strata. The first stratum was located in the park and the second in its buffer zone. Each strip consisted of plots of 20 x 50 m within which individuals with diameters at breast height = 10 cm DBH were measured for total height, crown diameter and the condition of each tree. Within each strip a 10 x 10 m subplot was used to assess individuals with DBH = 10 cm and heights greater than 3 m. In addition the number of seedlings of height = 0.3 m were counted in subplots of 5 x 5 m. Models were generated to estimate the height and volume as a function of DBH. We report a total of eight natural stands of black oak reaching 2000 ha of which 28.3 ha were found within the park. We report a density of 281.7 trees ha-1 with a basal area of 52.33 m2 ha-1 and a volume of 761.65 m3 ha-1. The form-factor for the species was of 0.76041. Six models were fitted to estimate the height and six for volume adjustments of 0.90 and 0.988, respectively.

Soil organic layers (OL) play an important role in landatmosphere exchanges of water, energy and carbon in cold environments. The proper implementation of OL in land surface and ecosystem models is important for predicting dynamic responses to climate warming. Based on the analysis of OL samples of black spruce (Picea mariana), we recommend that implementation of OL for cold regions modeling: (1) use three general organic horizon types (live, fibrous, and amorphous) to represent vertical soil heterogeneity; (2) implement dynamics of OL over the course of disturbance, as there are significant differences of OL thickness between young and mature stands; and (3) use two broad drainage classes to characterize spatial heterogeneity, as there are significant differences in OL thickness between dry and wet sites. Implementation of these suggestions into models has the potential to substantially improve how OL dynamics influence variability in surface temperature and soil moisture in cold regions. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophys.ical Union.

Full Text Available The migration of blacks in North America through slavery became united. The population of blacks past downs a tradition of artist through art to native born citizens. The art tradition involved telling stories to each generation in black families. The black culture elevated by tradition created hope to determine their personal freedom to escape from poverty of enslavement and to establish a way of life through tradition. A way of personal freedoms was through getting a good education that lead to a better foundation and a better way of life.

Full Text Available The white-thread blight and black rot (WTBR caused by basidiomycetous fungi of the genus Ceratobasidium is emerging as an important plant disease in Brazil, particularly for crop species in the Ericales such as persimmon (Diospyros kaki and tea (Camellia sinensis. However, the species identity of the fungal pathogen associated with either of these hosts is still unclear. In this work, we used sequence variation in the internal transcribed spacer regions, including the 5.8S coding region of rDNA (ITS-5.8S rDNA, to determine the phylogenetic placement of the local white-thread-blight-associated populations of Ceratobasidium sp. from persimmon and tea, in relation to Ceratobasidium species already described world-wide. The two sister populations of Ceratobasidium sp. from persimmon and tea in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest agroecosystem most likely represent distinct species within Ceratobasidium and are also distinct from C. noxium, the etiological agent of the first description of white-thread blight disease that was reported on coffee in India. The intraspecific variation for the two Ceratobasidium sp. populations was also analyzed using three mitochondrial genes (ATP6, nad1 and nad2. As reported for other fungi, variation in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA was incongruent. Despite distinct variability in the ITS-rDNA region these two populations shared similar mitochondrial DNA haplotypes.

The white-thread blight and black rot (WTBR) caused by basidiomycetous fungi of the genus Ceratobasidium is emerging as an important plant disease in Brazil, particularly for crop species in the Ericales such as persimmon (Diospyros kaki) and tea (Camellia sinensis). However, the species identity of the fungal pathogen associated with either of these hosts is still unclear. In this work, we used sequence variation in the internal transcribed spacer regions, including the 5.8S coding region of rDNA (ITS-5.8S rDNA), to determine the phylogenetic placement of the local white-thread-blight-associated populations of Ceratobasidium sp. from persimmon and tea, in relation to Ceratobasidium species already described world-wide. The two sister populations of Ceratobasidium sp. from persimmon and tea in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest agroecosystem most likely represent distinct species within Ceratobasidium and are also distinct from C. noxium, the etiological agent of the first description of white-thread blight disease that was reported on coffee in India. The intraspecific variation for the two Ceratobasidium sp. populations was also analyzed using three mitochondrial genes (ATP6, nad1 and nad2). As reported for other fungi, variation in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA was incongruent. Despite distinct variability in the ITS-rDNA region these two populations shared similar mitochondrial DNA haplotypes.

Aim and method: CO 2 -gas-exchange and transpiration of open-grown Norway spruce (about 12 m high) on the top of the BlackForest (1230 m a.s.l.) near Freiburg under local conditions with and without ozone are being continiously measured through the whole year. In the same intensity are registered the temperature of soil, needles, twigs, stem and air, the humidity in soil and air and the diameter-changes of the stem. Nearby other institutions measure the quality of air and depositions. Results: In winter with less snowfall, higher temperature and higher insolation, the youngest twigs of the spruce had a lower net-photosynthesis but a higher respiration at night on the southern part versus nothern part (with more shade). Perhaps it happened an inactivity of the photosynthesis-apparatus because of too high insolation. In the same time the colour of the needles on the southern part changed to yellowish green (on the northern part they remained dark green). During dry summer periods the photosynthesis dropped earlier and deeper. The 'radial-increment' stagnated. There was no difference in the gas-exchange when the ozone concentration had been enlarged, neither in winter nor in summertime. (orig.). 57 figs., 12 tabs., 178 refs [de

Soil black carbon (BC) is considered to be the main component of passive C pool because of its inherent biochemical recalcitrance. In this paper, soil BC in the middle part of Great Xing'an Mountains was quantified, the distribution of BC in different particle size fractions was analyzed, and BC stabilization mechanism and its important role in soil C pool were discussed. The results showed that BC expressed obvious accumulation in surface soil, accounting for about 68.7% in the whole horizon (64 cm), and then decreased with the increasing soil depth, however, BC/OC showed an opposite pattern. Climate conditions redistributed BC in study area, and the soil under cooler and moister conditions would sequester more BC. BC proportion in different particle size fractions was in the order of clay>silt>fine sand>coarse sand. Although BC content in clay was the highest and was enhanced with increasing soil depth, BC/OC in clay did not show a marked change. Thus, the rise of BC/OC was attributed to the preservation of BC particles in the fine sand and silt fractions. Biochemical recalcitrance was the main stabilization mechanism for surface BC, and with the increasing soil depth, the chemical protection from clay mineral gradually played a predominant role. BC not only was the essential component of soil stable carbon pool, but also took up a sizable proportion in particulate organic carbon pool. Therefore, the storage of soil stable carbon and the potential of soil carbon sequestration would be enhanced owing to the existence of BC.

Urban forests (and trees) constitute the second forest resource considered in this report. We specifically emphasize the fact that agricultural and urban forests exist on a continuum defined by their relationship (and interrelationship) with a given landscape. These two forest types generally serve different purposes, however. Whereas agricultural forests are...

Describes a study to determine the importance of animals in the spread of eastern dwarf mistletoe of black spruce. Radio telemetry, banding, and color-marking techniques were used to study vectors of this forest pathogen.

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) was the first forest tree species to be imported from North America to Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. It is the most important fast-growing stand-forming tree species in Hungary . Black locust plantations can be successfully established in response to arange of economic and ecological opportunities. Plantation survival and productivity are maximized by matching the species' growth characteristics with silvicultura l options and land management needs. In the paper the sequence of forest tending operations in black locust stands is proposed, based on results of long-term st and structure and forest yield trials. Implementing good silvicultural plans and models will lead to profitable black locust stands and greater acceptance of the species by land managers. Black locust would also beavery useful species for energy productions as the related research results have been shown in the paper .

These essays explore why the historic conflict between blacks and whites in the United States has become a crisis that divides many African Americans. The changing racial dynamic is not marked by conflicts. between the black middle class and the poor, black men and women, the black intellectual elite and rappers, black politicians and the urban…

One of the proposed strategies for implementation of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plus (REDD+) is to incentivize conservation of forests managed by communities under decentralized forest management. Yet, we argue that this is a challenging road to REDD+ because...... conservation of forests under existing decentralized management arrangements toward a push for extending the coverage of forests under decentralized management, making forest rights the hard currency of REDD+....

Blacks have developed unique environmental perceptions, values, and attitudes, making it difficult for counselors to establish and maintain positive rapport. This article examines attitudinal ingredients posited by Carl Rogers for relevance to this problem, and suggests in-service training to help counselors and other professionals relate…

Black willow and other species of Salix together comprise a majority of the stocking. Cottonwood is the chief associate, particularly in the early stages, but green ash, sycamore, pecan, persimmon, waterlocust, American elm, baldcypress, red maple, sugarberry, box-elder, and in some areas, silver maple are invaders preceding the next successional stage.

An analysis of climate simulations from a point of view of tourism climatology based on two regional climate models, namely REMO and CLM, was performed for a regional domain in the southwest of Germany, the BlackForest region, for two time frames, 1971-2000 that represents the twentieth century climate and 2021-2050 that represents the future climate. In that context, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios A1B and B1 are used. The analysis focuses on human-biometeorological and applied climatologic issues, especially for tourism purposes - that means parameters belonging to thermal (physiologically equivalent temperature, PET), physical (precipitation, snow, wind), and aesthetic (fog, cloud cover) facets of climate in tourism. In general, both models reveal similar trends, but differ in their extent. The trend of thermal comfort is contradicting: it tends to decrease in REMO, while it shows a slight increase in CLM. Moreover, REMO reveals a wider range of future climate trends than CLM, especially for sunshine, dry days, and heat stress. Both models are driven by the same global coupled atmosphere-ocean model ECHAM5/MPI-OM. Because both models are not able to resolve meso- and micro-scale processes such as cloud microphysics, differences between model results and discrepancies in the development of even those parameters (e.g., cloud formation and cover) are due to different model parameterization and formulation. Climatic changes expected by 2050 are small compared to 2100, but may have major impacts on tourism as for example, snow cover and its duration are highly vulnerable to a warmer climate directly affecting tourism in winter. Beyond indirect impacts are of high relevance as they influence tourism as well. Thus, changes in climate, natural environment, demography, tourists' demands, among other things affect economy in general. The analysis of the CLM results and its comparison with the REMO results complete the analysis performed

Following an introductory section, the subject is discussed under the headings: on the character of research in black hole astrophysics; isolated holes produced by collapse of normal stars; black holes in binary systems; black holes in globular clusters; black holes in quasars and active galactic nuclei; primordial black holes; concluding remarks on the present state of research in black hole astrophysics. (U.K.)

In managing black walnut, or any forest tree species, the human dimension is often overlooked. As a result, both the number of landowners managing their land and the number of forested acres under management has not significantly increased over the past 30 years. Elements of the human landscape are explored and a roadmap for engaging landowners is proposed.

Productive soils are the foundation of sustainable forests throughout the United States. Forest soils are generally subjected to fewer disturbances than agricultural soils, particularly those that are tilled, so forest soils tend to have better preserved A-horizons than agricultural soils. Another major contrast between forest and agricultural soils is the addition of...

Forest hydrology studies the distribution, storage, movement, and quality of water and the hydrological processes in forest-dominated ecosystems. Forest hydrological science is regarded as the foundation of modern integrated waterÂ¬shed management. This chapter provides an overview of the history of forest hydrology and basic principles of this unique branch of...

Global variation in forests and in human cultures means that a single method for managing forests is not possible. However, forest management everywhere shares some common principles because it is rooted in physical and biological sciences like chemistry and genetics. Ecological forest management is an approach that combines an understanding of universal processes with...

It is reported on the current prospecting efforts in Menzenschwand, where one of the best uranium deposits of the Federal Republic - though of relatively small size - is situated. At increasing world market prices for uranium, this deposit may be counted with those economically worth exploiting. The prospecting efforts for the moment serve, above all, to gather experience in this field and to assess extent and concentration of the deposit. Exploitation or mining will not follow immediately because public and private interests are not in line at the moment. (UA) [de

We surveyed black spruce stands within 0.5 miles of US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots and compared dwarf mistletoe status with that of the FIA and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) forest inventories. Our results differed from FIA results in 3 of 16 stands with FIA plots, with FIA most often not recording dwarf mistletoe in...

The distinguishable black theatre in America, mirroring a distinguishable black experience, is an artistic product which demands audience involvement. Both the Afro-American oral tradition and the art of gesture are integral aspects of black theatre. In addition, the tragedy found black theatre is not tragedy in the classic sense, as blacks feel…

Full Text Available The study deals with the soils in the montane beech forest (Fagetum moesiacae montanum Jov. 53 in the management units "Juni Kuèaj II" and "Bogovina I", on the mountain massif Brezovica. Soil genesis in the beech forests of Brezovica, along with vegetation and relief, was affected by the character of parent rock. The study soils occur over two types of bedrock: limestone and argilloschist The soil types and sub-types are defined based on the profile morphology, parent rock and pedogenetic processes Two types of soil were analysed on limestone: black earth (calcomelanosol and brown soil (calcocambisol. Two sub-types of black earth were defined: organomineral and brownised. There are two varieties of organomineral black earth: colluvial and lithic. Also two sub-types of brown soils were defined and: typical and illimerised. The soils on limestone are characterised by great spatial variability. Different combinations of soil formations occur on a small area. Soil combinations consist of two or three development phases, the most represented of which are the following: organomineral black earth - brownised black earth; organomineral black earth - brownised black earth - typical brown soil; typical brown soil - illimerised soil Typical brown soil is formed on argilloschists and it occurs in two forms: medium deep, medium skeletal acid brown soil and deep, poorly skeletal acid brown soil The most productive sites of the montane beech forest on Brezovica are deep acid brown soils and the soil combination: typical brown soil - illimerised soil on limestone.

Forest biomass is an abundant biomass feedstock that complements the conventional forest use of wood for paper and wood materials. It may be utilized for bioenergy production, such as heat and electricity, as well as for biofuels and a variety of bioproducts, such as industrial chemicals, textiles, and other renewable materials. The resources within the 2016 Billion-Ton Report include primary forest resources, which are taken directly from timberland-only forests, removed from the land, and taken to the roadside.

... medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002858.htm Black widow spider To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. The black widow spider (Latrodectus) has a shiny black body with a ...

Full Text Available A 2-year-old boy was born at term of healthy, non-consanguineous Iranian parents. His mother attended in the clinic with the history of sometimes discoloration of diapers after passing urine. She noticed that first at the age of one month with intensified in recent months. His Physical examination and growth parameters were normal. His mother denied taking any medication (sorbitol, nitrofurantoin, metronidazole, methocarbamol, sena and methyldopa (5. Qualitative urine examination showed dark black discoloration. By this history, alkaptonuria was the most clinical suspicious. A 24-hour-urine sample was collected and sent for quantitative measurements. The urine sample was highly positive for homogentisic acid and negative for porphyrin metabolites.

An analysis of trees in the urbanized portion of Scranton, PA, reveals that this area has about 1.2 million trees with canopies that cover 22.0 percent of the area. The most common tree species are red maple, gray birch, black cherry, northern red oak, and quaking aspen. Scranton's urban forest currently store about 93,300 tons of carbon valued at $1.9 million. In...

The high diversity of epiphytes typical of undisturbed montane tropical forests has been negatively affected by continuous deforestation and forest conversion to secondary vegetation. Macrolichens are an important component of these epiphytes. Because their physiology is strongly coupled to humidity and solar radiation, we hypothesized that microclimatic changes derived from forest clearing and logging can affect the diversity of these poikilohydric organisms. In southern Ecuador, we examined three types of forests according to a disturbance gradient (primary forests, secondary forests, and monospecific forests of Alnus acuminata) for the presence/absence and coverage of epiphytic macrolichens that we identified on 240 trees. We found that total richness tended to decrease when the range of the disturbance increased. The impoverishment was particularly drastic for 'shade-adapted lichens', while the richness of 'heliophytic lichens' increased in the drier conditions of secondary growth. Epiphytic composition also differed significantly among the three types of forests, and the similarity decreased when the range of the disturbance was greater. We concluded that a span of 40 years of recovery by secondary vegetation was not enough to regenerate the diversity of epiphytic macrolichens that was lost due to forest disturbances. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Tropical montane forest disturbance drastically reduced macrolichen diversity. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Species loss was most severe for the 'shade-adapted lichens' because high radiation is harmful to them. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In secondary forests lichen diversity of native forests was not regenerated. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The protection of remnants of primary tropical forest might help to preserve a diverse community of epiphytic macrolichens.

An analysis of the urban forest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reveals that this city has an estimated 2.9 million trees (encompassing all woody plants greater than 1 inch diameter at breast height [d.b.h]) with tree canopy that covers 20 percent of the city. The most common tree species are spicebush, black cherry, ash, tree-of-heaven, and boxelder, but the most...

Conditions for the formation of a black hole are considered, and the properties of black holes. The possibility of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole is discussed. Einstein's theory of general relativity in relation to the formation of black holes is discussed. (U.K.)

Full Text Available Recently, the Society’s perception of forest resources has gone through significant changes. Forest ecosystems play a multifunctional role and host an important portion of the whole biodiversity, particularly in the Mediterranean area. Remote sensing technologies provide a unique way to obtain spatially extensive information on forest ecosystems, but relatively few studies used such information to evaluate forest habitat and biotic diversity. In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of remote sensing to predict forest diversity by linking remotely sensed information with diversity metrics obtained from ground measurements of butterfly diversity. The field work was carried out in Calabria in four different forest types (beech, chestnut, black pine and silver fir forests. The sampling of Lepidoptera was carried out by LED light traps. We positioned 9 traps per forest type, for a total of 36 sites chosen to sample the different stages of forest succession in each forest type. Samples were carried out once a month from May to November 2015. Data from in situ butterfly measurements were compared with above ground forest biomass estimated from airborne LiDAR with NDVI estimated from Landsat 8. Results indicated that the Geometridae/Noctuideae ratio of lepidopteran communities was significantly correlated with the tree biomass, its distribution among tree size classes and the NDVI. The Geometridae/Noctuidae ratio, therefore, represents an index easy to calculate, which can be employed to integrate data acquired from remote sensing in order to obtain continuous spatial estimates of forest naturalness.

Methods and results of searching for stellar mass black holes in binary systems and for supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei of different types are described. As of now (June 2002), a total of 100 black hole candidates are known. All the necessary conditions Einstein's General Relativity imposes on the observational properties of black holes are satisfied for candidate objects available, thus further assuring the existence of black holes in the Universe. Prospects for obtaining sufficient criteria for reliably distinguishing candidate black holes from real black holes are discussed. (reviews of topical problems)

Practical application of black carbon (biochar) to improve forest soil may be limited because biochar is hydrophobic. In a laboratory, we tested the water repellency of biochar application (mixed or surface applied) to two forest soils of varying texture (a granitic coarse-textured Inceptisol and an ash cap fine-textured Andisol) at four different application rates (0...

This bulletin describes forest resources of the State of Texas at the time of the 2008 forest inventory. This bulletin addresses forest area, volume, growth, removals, mortality, forest health, timber product output, and the economy of the forest sector.

Wildfire and mountain pine beetle infestations are naturally occurring disturbances in western North American forests. Black-backed woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus) are emblematic of the role these disturbances play in creating wildlife habitat, since they are strongly associated with recently-killed forests. However, management practices aimed at reducing the economic...

Recently, stationary black holes have been successfully simulated for up to times of approximately 600-1000M, where M is the mass of the black hole. Considering that the expected burst of gravitational radiation from a binary black hole merger would last approximately 200-500M, black hole codes are approaching the point where simulations of mergers may be feasible. We will present two types of simulations of single black holes obtained with a code based on the Baumgarte-Shapiro-Shibata-Nakamura formulation of the Einstein evolution equations. One type of simulations addresses the stability properties of stationary black hole evolutions. The second type of simulations demonstrates the ability of our code to move a black hole through the computational domain. This is accomplished by shifting the stationary black hole solution to a coordinate system in which the location of the black hole is time dependent.

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IWFIA) program of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, as part of its national Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) duties, conducted forest resource inventories of the Southwestern Region (Region 3) National Forests. This report presents highlights of the Lincoln National Forest 1997 inventory...

This paper postulates that forests dominated by younger seral stages are less vulnerable to climate change that those composed of mature and overmature stands. To support this analysis, an overview of expected changes in climate conditions was provided. Expected changes include higher maximum temperatures, higher minimum temperatures and a decrease in periods of intense cold and fewer frost days; reduction in the diurnal temperature range; an increase in the apparent heat index; greater numbers of intense precipitation; and, increased risk of drought associated with air mass movements. A comparison between conditions in a managed forest mosaic and natural forests was made, with managed forests differing due to efforts to regulate the age structure. The inversion in the age structure of forest mosaics creates significant changes in structural characteristics and composition, including greater hardwood components and more even-aged stands. It was concluded that in Canada, managed boreal forests are younger and have less black spruce and more hardwoods and fir, making younger forests less vulnerable to fire and more amenable to fire control due to increased accessibility. It was also noted that because of their relative youth, managed forests are more vulnerable to regeneration failure and that managed forests with more balsam fir and trembling aspen are at greater risk for insect outbreaks. In addition, wind throw, a threat to older forests, is not significant in managed forests. 15 refs., 1 tab., 2 figs

large values of Ф, black holes do form and for small values the scalar field ... on the near side of the ridge ultimately evolve to form black holes while those configu- ... The inset shows a bird's eye view looking down on the saddle point.

Indicates tendencies dangerous to the basic purpose of Black Studies, and identifies four external challeges--imperialism, paternalism, nihilism, and materialism. An internal challenge is considered to be the use of European and Establishment constructs to analyze black reality. (DM)

Macroscopic entropy of an extremal black hole is expected to be determined completely by its near horizon geometry. Thus two black holes with identical near horizon geometries should have identical macroscopic entropy, and the expected equality between macroscopic and microscopic entropies will then imply that they have identical degeneracies of microstates. An apparent counterexample is provided by the 4D-5D lift relating BMPV black hole to a four dimensional black hole. The two black holes have identical near horizon geometries but different microscopic spectrum. We suggest that this discrepancy can be accounted for by black hole hair - degrees of freedom living outside the horizon and contributing to the degeneracies. We identify these degrees of freedom for both the four and the five dimensional black holes and show that after their contributions are removed from the microscopic degeneracies of the respective systems, the result for the four and five dimensional black holes match exactly.

We study noncommutative black holes, by using a diffeomorphism between the Schwarzschild black hole and the Kantowski-Sachs cosmological model, which is generalized to noncommutative minisuperspace. Through the use of the Feynman-Hibbs procedure we are able to study the thermodynamics of the black hole, in particular, we calculate Hawking's temperature and entropy for the 'noncommutative' Schwarzschild black hole.

The postulates of black hole complementarity do not imply a firewall for infalling observers at a black hole horizon. The dynamics of the stretched horizon, that scrambles and reemits information, determines whether infalling observers experience anything out of the ordinary when entering a large black hole. In particular, there is no firewall if the stretched horizon degrees of freedom retain information for a time of the order of the black hole scrambling time.

Recent work, which has been investigating the use of the concept of entropy with respect to gravitating systems, black holes and the universe as a whole, is discussed. The resulting theory of black holes assigns a finite temperature to them -about 10 -7 K for ordinary black holes of stellar mass -which is in complete agreement with thermodynamical concepts. It is also shown that black holes must continuously emit particles just like ordinary bodies which have a certain temperature. (U.K.)

First page Back Continue Last page Overview Graphics. What is black hole? Possible end phase of a star: A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma having continuous nuclear burning. Star exhausts nuclear fuel →. White Dwarf, Neutron Star, Black Hole. Black hole's gravitational field is so powerful that even ...

Contends that the survival of black people is in serious jeopardy as is evidenced in contemporary discussions on the worldwide plight of black people, and that an exhaustive study of the problem in its many dimensions is seriously lacking; the moral and ethical issues of genocide require examination from a black perspective. (JW)

We review patterns and processes important for biodiversity in the Fennoscandian boreal forest, describe man's past and present impact and outline a strategy for conservation. Natural disturbances, particularly forest fire and gap formation, create much of the structural and functional diversity in forest ecosystems. Several boreal plants and animals are adapted to fire regimes. In contrast, many organisms (epiphytic lichens, fungi, invertebrates) require stable conditions with long continuity in canopy cover. The highly mechanized and efficient Fennoscandian forest industry has developed during the last century. The result is that most natural forest has been lost and that several hundreds of species, mainly cryptograms and invertebrates, are threatened. The forestry is now in a transition from exploitation to sustainable production and has recently incorporated some measures to protect the environment. Programmes for maintaining biodiversity in the boreal forest should include at least three parts. First, the system of forest reserves must be significantly improved through protection of large representative ecosystems and key biotopes that host threatened species. Second, we must restore ecosystem properties that have been lost or altered. Natural disturbance regimes must be allowed to operate or be imitated, for example by artificial fire management. Stand-level management should particularly increase the amount of coarse woody debris, the number of old deciduous trees and large, old conifers, by using partial cutting. Third, natural variation should also be mimicked at the landscape level, for example, by reducing fragmentation and increasing links between landscape elements. Long-term experiments are required to evaluate the success of different management methods in maintaining biodiversity in the boreal forest. (au) 260 refs

Examination of black walnut seedlings grown in forest and field soils showed all root systems were infected with mycorrhizae; the amount of infection was influenced by treatments. Mean height and dry weight of tops and roots were greater for seedlings grown in forest than field soil. Seedling height growth was not increased by disturbing either soil; but, root dry...

We study the problem of spatially stabilizing four dimensional extremal black holes in background electric/magnetic fields. Whilst looking for stationary stable solutions describing black holes placed in external fields we find that taking a continuum limit of Denef et al.'s multicenter supersymmetric black hole solutions provides a supergravity description of such backgrounds within which a black hole can be trapped within a confined volume. This construction is realized by solving for a levitating black hole over a magnetic dipole base. We comment on how such a construction is akin to a mechanical levitron.

This study investigated the potential of using acoustic tomography for detecting internal decay in high-value hardwood trees in the forest. Twelve black cherry (Prunus serotina) trees that had a wide range of physical characteristics were tested in a stand of second-growth hardwoods in Kane, PA, using a PiCUS Sonic Tomograph tool. The trees were felled after the field...

We summarize recent progress (a) in correcting biomass burning emissions factors deduced from airborne sampling of forest fire plumes, (b) in understanding the variability in reactivity of the fresh plumes sampled in ARCTAS (2008), DC3 (2012), and SEAC4RS (2013) airborne missions, and (c) in a consequent search for remotely sensed quantities that help classify forest-fire plumes. Particle properties, chemical speciation, and smoke radiative properties are related and mutually informative, as pictures below suggest (slopes of lines of same color are similar). (a) Mixed-effects (random-effects) statistical modeling provides estimates of both emission factors and a reasonable description of carbon-burned simultaneously. Different fire plumes will have very different contributions to volatile organic carbon reactivity; this may help explain differences of free NOx(both gas- and particle-phase), and also of ozone production, that have been noted for forest-fire plumes in California. Our evaluations check or correct emission factors based on sequential measurements (e.g., the Normalized Ratio Enhancement and similar methods). We stress the dangers of methods relying on emission-ratios to CO. (b) This work confirms and extends many reports of great situational variability in emissions factors. VOCs vary in OH reactivity and NOx-binding. Reasons for variability are not only fuel composition, fuel condition, etc., but are confused somewhat by rapid transformation and mixing of emissions. We use "unmixing" (distinct from mixed-effects) statistics and compare briefly to approaches like neural nets. We focus on one particularly intense fire the notorious Yosemite Rim Fire of 2013. In some samples, NOx activity was not so suppressed by binding into nitrates as in other fires. While our fire-typing is evolving and subject to debate, the carbon-burned delta(CO2+CO) estimates that arise from mixed effects models, free of confusion by background-CO2 variation, should provide a

At two different locations in northeast California, an interdisciplinary team of scientists is initiating long-term studies to quantify the effects of forest manipulations intended to accelerate andlor enhance late-successional structure of eastside pine forest ecosystems. One study, at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest, uses a split-plot, factorial, randomized block...

Proves are searched for of the formation of the so-called primary black holes at the very origin of the universe. The black holes would weigh less than 10 13 kg. The formation of a primary black hole is conditional on strong fluctuations of the gravitational field corresponding roughly to a half of the fluctuation maximally permissible by the general relativity theory. Only big fluctuations of the gravitational field can overcome the forces of the hot gas pressure and compress the originally expanding matter into a black hole. Low-mass black holes have a temperature exceeding that of the black holes formed from stars. A quantum process of particle formation, the so-called evaporation takes place in the strong gravitational field of a black hole. The lower the mass of the black hole, the shorter the evaporation time. The analyses of processes taking place during the evaporation of low-mass primary black holes show that only a very small proportion of the total mass of the matter in the universe could turn into primary black holes. (M.D.)

Full Text Available Emerald ash borer (EAB continues to spread across North America, infesting native ash trees and changing the forested landscape. Black ash wetland forests are severely affected by EAB. As black ash wetland forests provide integral ecosystem services, alternative approaches to maintain forest cover on the landscape are needed. We implemented simulated EAB infestations in depressional black ash wetlands in the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan to mimic the short-term and long-term effects of EAB. These wetlands were planted with 10 alternative tree species in 2013. Based on initial results in the Michigan sites, a riparian corridor in the Superior Municipal Forest in Wisconsin was planted with three alternative tree species in 2015. Results across both locations indicate that silver maple (Acer saccharinum L., red maple (Acer rubrum L., American elm (Ulmus americana L., and northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis L. are viable alternative species to plant in black ash-dominated wetlands. Additionally, selectively planting on natural or created hummocks resulted in two times greater survival than in adjacent lowland sites, and this suggests that planting should be implemented with microsite selection or creation as a primary control. Regional landowners and forest managers can use these results to help mitigate the canopy and structure losses from EAB and maintain forest cover and hydrologic function in black ash-dominated wetlands after infestation.

The first full, annualized inventory of Illinois' forests reports more than 4.5 million acres of forest land with an average of 459 trees per acre. Forest land is dominated by oak/hickory forest types, which occupy 65 percent of total forest land area. Seventy-two percent of forest land consists of sawtimber, 20 percent contains poletimber, and 8 percent contains...

The second full annual inventory of Minnesota's forests reports 17 million acres of forest land with an average volume of more than 1,000 cubic feet per acre. Forest land is dominated by the aspen forest type, which occupies nearly 30 percent of the total forest land area. Twenty-eight percent of forest land consists of sawtimber, 35 percent poletimber, 35 percent...

Based on graduate school lectures in contemporary relativity and gravitational physics, this book gives a complete and unified picture of the present status of theoretical and observational properties of astrophysical black holes. The chapters are written by internationally recognized specialists. They cover general theoretical aspects of black hole astrophysics, the theory of accretion and ejection of gas and jets, stellar-sized black holes observed in the Milky Way, the formation and evolution of supermassive black holes in galactic centers and quasars as well as their influence on the dynamics in galactic nuclei. The final chapter addresses analytical relativity of black holes supporting theoretical understanding of the coalescence of black holes as well as being of great relevance in identifying gravitational wave signals. With its introductory chapters the book is aimed at advanced graduate and post-graduate students, but it will also be useful for specialists.

We find a realization of linear electroelasticity theory in gravitational physics by uncovering a new response coefficient of charged black branes, exhibiting their piezoelectric behavior. Taking charged dilatonic black strings as an example and using the blackfold approach we measure their elastic and piezolectric moduli. We also use our results to draw predictions about the equilibrium condition of charged dilatonic black rings in dimensions higher than six.

I outline the theory of accretion onto black holes, and its application to observed phenomena such as X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. The dynamics as well as radiative signatures of black hole accretion depend on interactions between the relatively simple black-hole spacetime and complex radiation, plasma and magnetohydrodynamical processes in the surrounding gas. I will show how transient accretion processes could provide clues to these ...

We construct a four-dimensional BPS saturated heterotic string solution from the Taub-NUT solution. It is a nonextremal black hole solution since its Euler number is nonzero. We evaluate its black hole entropy semiclassically. We discuss the relation between the black hole entropy and the degeneracy of string states. The entropy of our string solution can be understood as the microscopic entropy which counts the elementary string states without any complications. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

It is shown that there are large static black holes for which all curvature invariants are small near the event horizon, yet any object which falls in experiences enormous tidal forces outside the horizon. These black holes are charged and near extremality, and exist in a wide class of theories including string theory. The implications for cosmic censorship and the black hole information puzzle are discussed. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

The black family is the primary socializing agent of the black child and, thus, the primary educator. The culture of blacks in America, in which the child is steeped, is unique, complex and rich-the result of a convergence and fusion of African, American, and European influences. In its education of the black child, the black family must deal,…

Standing timber is one of the few important kinds of property that are not generally covered by insurance. Studies made by the Forest Service and other agencies have indicated that the risks involved in the insurance of timber are not unduly great, provided they can be properly distributed. Such studies, however, have thus far failed to induce any notable development...

NASA's Technology Applications Center, with other government and academic agencies, provided technology for improved resources management to the Cibola National Forest. Landsat satellite images enabled vegetation over a large area to be classified for purposes of timber analysis, wildlife habitat, range measurement and development of general vegetation maps.

The Black Mountain range of western North Carolina supports some of the most extensive but threatened high-elevation forests in the southern Appalachians. Of particular note, the insect pathogen, balsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae Ratzeburg), has been present on Mt. Mitchell for more than 50 years. In anticipation of potential changes in forest...

Climate, tree species traits, and soil fertility are key controls on forest productivity. However, in most forest ecosystems, natural and human disturbances, such as wind throw, fire, and harvest, can also exert important and lasting direct and indirect influence over productivity. We used an ecosystem model, PnET-CN, to examine how disturbance type, intensity, and frequency influence net primary production (NPP) across a range of forest types from Minnesota and Wisconsin, USA. We assessed the importance of past disturbances on NPP, net N mineralization, foliar N, and leaf area index at 107 forest stands of differing types (aspen, jack pine, northern hardwood, black spruce) and disturbance history (fire, harvest) by comparing model simulations with observations. The model reasonably predicted differences among forest types in productivity, foliar N, leaf area index, and net N mineralization. Model simulations that included past disturbances minimally improved predictions compared to simulations without disturbance, suggesting the legacy of past disturbances played a minor role in influencing current forest productivity rates. Modeled NPP was more sensitive to the intensity of soil removal during a disturbance than the fraction of stand mortality or wood removal. Increasing crown fire frequency resulted in lower NPP, particularly for conifer forest types with longer leaf life spans and longer recovery times. These findings suggest that, over long time periods, moderate frequency disturbances are a relatively less important control on productivity than climate, soil, and species traits.

This article describes the strategies and activities of the Forest Integrity Network. One of the most important underlying causes of forest degradation is corruption and related illegal logging. The Forest Integrity Network is a timely new initiative to combat forest corruption. Its approach is to

Key FindingsPrivate landowners hold 86 percent of the forest area in the South; two-thirds of this area is owned by families or individuals.Fifty-nine percent of family forest owners own between 1 and 9 acres of forest land, but 60 percent of family-owned forests are in holdings of 100 acres or more.Two-...

Above all, the report places the part played by coal in the world's energy supply into the foreground. Aspects of energy economy (trend and supply of the world's energy demand, world coal market, energy market of the Federal Republic of Germany), of energy policy (long-term sales prospects, stabilization of production capacity, the markets of German black coal, the scope of action required, environmental protection, carbon dioxide immission, acid rain and forest deterioration, coal upgrading) and sociopolitical aspects (status of personnel, protection against occupational accidents and diseases) are dealt with. The statistical part is attached in the form of a folder.

Supersymmetric black holes are characterized by a large number of degenerate ground states. We argue that these black holes, like other quantum mechanical systems with such a degeneracy, are subject to a phenomenon which is called the geometric or Berry’s phase: under adiabatic variations of the

Applying Einstein's theory of gravitation to black holes and their interactions with their surroundings leads to the conclusion that the sum of the surface areas of several black holes can never become less. This is shown to be analogous to entropy in thermodynamics, and the term entropy is also thus applied to black holes. Continuing, expressions are found for the temperature of a black hole and its luminosity. Thermal radiation is shown to lead to explosion of the black hole. Numerical examples are discussed involving the temperature, the mass, the luminosity and the lifetime of black mini-holes. It is pointed out that no explosions corresponding to the prediction have been observed. It is also shown that the principle of conservation of leptons and baryons is broken by hot black holes, but that this need not be a problem. The related concept of instantons is cited. It is thought that understanding of thermal radiation from black holes may be important for the development of a quantified gravitation theory. (JIW)

Review essay, Marcia Bartusiak, Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled On by Hawking Became Loved (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015).......Review essay, Marcia Bartusiak, Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled On by Hawking Became Loved (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015)....

This article is divided into three parts. First, a systematic derivation of the Hawking radiation is given in three different ways. The information loss problem is then discussed in great detail. The last part contains a concise discussion of black hole thermodynamics. This article was published as chapter $6$ of the IOP book "Lectures on General Relativity, Cosmology and Quantum Black Holes" (July $2017$).

Statistics show that black girls in U.S. K-12 public schools are overrepresented among students who face disciplinary approaches (such as suspensions) that exclude or even criminalize them. Morris explains how black girls face conditions that make them vulnerable to a phenomenon she calls "school to confinement pathways"--conditions like…

Not even the first lady of the most powerful nation in the world is immune to stereotypes that have plagued Black women since first setting foot on American soil. Stereotypes of being the "angry Black woman" and curiosity about differences in appearance still persist from the academy to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. As African-American women rise in…

A case study of the events precipitating a black student boycott in 1969 in Gainesville, Flordia, when school board manuevering to avoid school integration led to the threatened closing of Lincoln High School, a reputable black community school. Also described are the subsequent transformations of Lincoln into a vocational-technical school and…

I find a class of black hole solutions to a (3+1) dimensional theory gravity coupled to abelian gauge fields with negative cosmological constant that has been proposed as the dual theory to a Lifshitz theory describing critical phenomena in (2+1) dimensions. These black holes are all asymptotic to a Lifshitz fixed point geometry and depend on a single parameter that determines both their area (or size) and their charge. Most of the solutions are obtained numerically, but an exact solution is also obtained for a particular value of this parameter. The thermodynamic behaviour of large black holes is almost the same regardless of genus, but differs considerably for small black holes. Screening behaviour is exhibited in the dual theory for any genus, but the critical length at which it sets in is genus-dependent for small black holes.

Full Text Available In its efforts toward improving diversity, the discipline of philosophy has tended to focus on increasing the number of black philosophers. One crucial issue that has received less attention is the extent to which black philosophers are delegitimized in the discipline because their philosophical contributions challenge the status quo. A systematic problem that bars black philosophers from equal and full participation, this delegitimization precludes the emergence of genuine diversity and reveals the importance of interrogating broader attitudes toward black philosophical contributions. In this essay, I argue for radical systematic changes to disciplinary hallmarks of professionalization such as pedagogy, mentoring, publishing, and hiring practices with the aim of legitimizing black philosophers and their contributions.

This book examines the many complex and sensitive issues relating to wildland fires. Beginning with an overview of the fires of 1980s, the book discusses the implications of continued drought and considers the behavior of wildland fires, from ignition and spread to spotting and firestorms. Topics include the effects of weather, forest fuels, fire ecology, and the effects of fire on plants and animals. In addition, the book examines firefighting methods and equipment, including new minimum impact techniques and compressed air foam; prescribed burning; and steps that can be taken to protect individuals and human structures. A history of forest fire policies in the U.S. and a discussion of solutions to fire problems around the world completes the coverage. With one percent of the earth's surface burning every year in the last decade, this is a penetrating book on a subject of undeniable importance

Dispersal flights of selected species of forest insects which are associated with periodic outbreaks of pests that occur over large contiguous forested areas are discussed. Gypsy moths, spruce budworms, and forest tent caterpillars were studied for their massive migrations in forested areas. Results indicate that large dispersals into forested areas are due to the females, except in the case of the gypsy moth.

The first completed annual inventory of South Dakota's forests reports almost 1.7 million acres of forest land. Softwood forests make up 74 percent of the total forest land area; the ponderosa pine forest type by itself accounts for 69 percent of the total.

This forest condition report of Hesse (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, forest in the in the Rhine-Main area, weather and climate, soil water balance and drought stress, insects and fungi, Forestry Environment Monitoring, infiltrated substances, main results of Forest soil survey in Hesse (BZE II), the substrate group red sandstone, heavy metal contamination of forests.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program produces area estimates of forest land use within three subcategories: timberland, reserved forest land, and other forest land. Mapping these subcategories of forest land requires the ability to spatially distinguish productive from unproductive land, and reserved from nonreserved land. FIA field data were spatially...

This account spans the time from A.D. Hopkins' trip to the Black Hills, SD, in 1901 to my retirement in 1982. The focus is on personnel and the work of the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, USDA, and the Forest Service experiment stations in the Rocky Mountain and Intermountain areas. Information for the Intermountain and Northern Rocky Mountain station...

Although recent eddy covariance measurements in boreal forests provide CO2 and energy exchange data for the whole ecosystem, very little is known about the role of the understory vegetation. We conducted chamber flux measurements in an Alaskan black spruce forest in order to compare CO2 and water

Although supermassive black holes (SMBHs) correlate well with their host galaxies, there is an emerging view that outliers exist. Henize 2-10, NGC 4889, and NGC 1277 are examples of SMBHs at least an order of magnitude more massive than their host galaxy suggests. The dynamical effects of such ultramassive central black holes is unclear. Here, we perform direct N-body simulations of mergers of galactic nuclei where one black hole is ultramassive to study the evolution of the remnant and the black hole dynamics in this extreme regime. We find that the merger remnant is axisymmetric near the center, while near the large SMBH influence radius, the galaxy is triaxial. The SMBH separation shrinks rapidly due to dynamical friction, and quickly forms a binary black hole; if we scale our model to the most massive estimate for the NGC 1277 black hole, for example, the timescale for the SMBH separation to shrink from nearly a kiloparsec to less than a parsec is roughly 10 Myr. By the time the SMBHs form a hard binary, gravitational wave emission dominates, and the black holes coalesce in a mere few Myr. Curiously, these extremely massive binaries appear to nearly bypass the three-body scattering evolutionary phase. Our study suggests that in this extreme case, SMBH coalescence is governed by dynamical friction followed nearly directly by gravitational wave emission, resulting in a rapid and efficient SMBH coalescence timescale. We discuss the implications for gravitational wave event rates and hypervelocity star production

This article brings two black intellectual traditions to bear on the question of charter schools: black Marxism and black nationalism. The authors examine the theoretical and rhetorical devices used to talk about charters schools by focusing on how notions of "black liberation" are deployed by the charter movement, and to what end. The…

From a particular vantage point, as an African-born scholar with a politics to affirm my Black subjectivity and Indigeneity in a diasporic context, my article engages a (re)theorization of Blackness for decolonial politics. Building on existing works of how Black scholars, themselves, have theorized Blackness, and recognizing the fluid,…

Japanese black bears often break branches when climbing trees and feeding on fruit in canopies, thereby creating small canopy gaps. However, the role of black bear-created canopy gaps has not been evaluated in the context of multiple forest dynamics. Our hypothesis was that small canopy gaps created by black bears improve light conditions, which facilitates fruiting of adult fleshy-fruited plants located beneath the gaps, and also that this chain interaction depends on interactions among the size of gaps, improved light conditions, forest layers, and life form of plants. The rPPFD, size of black bear-created canopy gaps, and fruiting/non-fruiting of fleshy-fruited plants were investigated in five forest layers beneath black-bear-created canopy gaps and closed canopies of Mongolian oak (Quercus crispula). We found that light conditions improved beneath black bear-disturbed trees with canopy gaps of large size, and the effect of improvement of light conditions was reduced with descending forest layers. Fruiting of fleshy-fruited plants, especially woody lianas and trees, was facilitated by the improvement of light conditions accompanied by an increase in the size of black-bear-created gaps. Data from this study revealed that canopy disturbance by black bears was key for improving light conditions and accelerating fruiting of fleshy-fruited trees and woody lianas in the canopy layers in particular. Therefore, our hypothesis was mostly supported. Our results provide evidence that Japanese black bears have high potential as ecosystem engineers that increase the availability of resources (light and fruit in this study) to other species by causing physical state changes in biotic materials (branches of Q. crispula in this study).

Full Text Available Japanese black bears often break branches when climbing trees and feeding on fruit in canopies, thereby creating small canopy gaps. However, the role of black bear-created canopy gaps has not been evaluated in the context of multiple forest dynamics. Our hypothesis was that small canopy gaps created by black bears improve light conditions, which facilitates fruiting of adult fleshy-fruited plants located beneath the gaps, and also that this chain interaction depends on interactions among the size of gaps, improved light conditions, forest layers, and life form of plants. The rPPFD, size of black bear-created canopy gaps, and fruiting/non-fruiting of fleshy-fruited plants were investigated in five forest layers beneath black-bear-created canopy gaps and closed canopies of Mongolian oak (Quercus crispula. We found that light conditions improved beneath black bear-disturbed trees with canopy gaps of large size, and the effect of improvement of light conditions was reduced with descending forest layers. Fruiting of fleshy-fruited plants, especially woody lianas and trees, was facilitated by the improvement of light conditions accompanied by an increase in the size of black-bear-created gaps. Data from this study revealed that canopy disturbance by black bears was key for improving light conditions and accelerating fruiting of fleshy-fruited trees and woody lianas in the canopy layers in particular. Therefore, our hypothesis was mostly supported. Our results provide evidence that Japanese black bears have high potential as ecosystem engineers that increase the availability of resources (light and fruit in this study to other species by causing physical state changes in biotic materials (branches of Q. crispula in this study.

Black holes, once just fascinating theoretical predictions of how gravity warps space-time according to Einstein's theory, are now generally accepted as astrophysical realities, formed by post-supernova collapse, or as supermassive black holes mysteriously found at the cores of most galaxies, powering active galactic nuclei, the most powerful objects in the universe. Theoretical understanding has progressed in recent decades with a wider realization that local concepts should characterize black holes, rather than the global concepts found in textbooks. In particular, notions such as trapping h

May 26, 1999 ... Shelter for animals: Forests are natural “habitats for many wild animals. .... nificance of forest conservation and development in Ethiopia's combat ...... of forests are not, unfortunately, analogues to traffic lights where the impact.

We explore the relationship between tenure and forest income in 271 villages throughout the tropics. We find that state-owned forests generate more forest income than private and community-owned forests both per household and per hectare. We explore whether forest income varies according...... to the extent of rule enforcement, and congruence (i.e., overlap of user rights between owners and users). We find negative associations between enforcement and smallholder forest income for state-owned and community forests, and positive associations for privately owned forests. Where user rights are limited...... to formal owners we find negative associations for state-owned forests. Overlapping user rights are positively associated with forest income for community forests. Our findings suggest that policy reforms emphasizing enforcement and reducing overlapping claims to forest resources should consider possible...

Forest roads are the base infrastructure foundation of forestry operations. These roads entail a complex engineering effort because they can cause substantial environmental damage to forests and include a high-cost construction. This study was carried out in four sample sites of Giresun, Trabzon(2) and Artvin Forest Directorate, which is in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The areas have both steep terrain (30-50% gradient) and very steep terrain (51-80% gradient). Bulldozers and hydraulic excavators were determined to be the main machines for forest road construction, causing environmental damage and cross sections in mountainous areas.As a result of this study, the percent damage to forests was determined as follows: on steep terrain, 21% of trees were damaged by excavators and 33% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction, and on very steep terrain, 27% of trees were damaged by excavators and 44% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction. It was also determined that on steep terrain, when excavators were used, 12.23% less forest area was destroyed compared with when bulldozers were used and 16.13% less area was destroyed by excavators on very steep terrain. In order to reduce the environmental damage on the forest ecosystem, especially in steep terrains, hydraulic excavators should replace bulldozers in forest road construction activities.

Full Text Available Forest roads are the base infrastructure foundation of forestry operations. These roads entail a complex engineering effort because they can cause substantial environmental damage to forests and include a high-cost construction. This study was carried out in four sample sites of Giresun, Trabzon(2 and Artvin Forest Directorate, which is in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The areas have both steep terrain (30-50% gradient and very steep terrain (51-80% gradient. Bulldozers and hydraulic excavators were determined to be the main machines for forest road construction, causing environmental damage and cross sections in mountainous areas.As a result of this study, the percent damage to forests was determined as follows: on steep terrain, 21% of trees were damaged by excavators and 33% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction, and on very steep terrain, 27% of trees were damaged by excavators and 44% of trees were damaged by bulldozers during forest road construction. It was also determined that on steep terrain, when excavators were used, 12.23% less forest area was destroyed compared with when bulldozers were used and 16.13% less area was destroyed by excavators on very steep terrain. In order to reduce the environmental damage on the forest ecosystem, especially in steep terrains, hydraulic excavators should replace bulldozers in forest road construction activities.

Full Text Available It is required that the capital used for construction of road must be technical, economical and used in its location. For this reason, the projects must be prepared for forest roads and all operations belong to roads must be guided according to these projects. In this investigation, available forest road network plan and constructed forest roads were investigated at the point of view technical and forest transportation. After this, it were studied to reach the highest exploitation rate as can as possible. Available forest road density were found as 11.9 m/ha in forest areas for Yesiltepe District. In this condition, exploitation rate was 78 %. After that, optimum forest road network were planned and road density were reached to 22 m/ha and exploitation rate to 86 %. Directed sample method were used from taking soil sample methods and samples were took in mixed system. According to results of the experiments, available forest roads were found in a good degree at the point of view endurance, pressing and transportation capacity. With these results, it is aimed to reach higher exploitation rate with given attention to landslide areas during planning of forest roads on the mountain areas such as Black Sea Region. For this reason, required importance must be given to planning of truck and logging roads. Ground analysis must be done and took care before during planning process of forest road network.

Full Text Available High levels of air pollution including ground level ozone significantly reduce humans’ life expectancy and cause forest damage and decreased tree growth. The French Vosges and the German BlackForest are regions well-known for having the highest tropospheric ozone concentrations at remote forested sites in Central Europe. This box model study investigates the sensitivity of atmospheric chemistry calculations of derived ozone on differently resolved forest tree composition and volatile organic compound emissions. Representative conditions were chosen for the Upper Rhine area including the Alsatian Vosges/France and the BlackForest/Germany during summer. This study aims to answer the following question: What level of input detail for Alsace and BlackForest tree mixtures is required to accurately simulate ozone formation? While the French forest in Alsace—e.g., in the Vosges—emits isoprene to a substantially higher extent than the forest at the German site, total monoterpene emissions at the two sites are rather similar. However, the individual monoterpene structures, and therefore their reactivity, differs. This causes a higher ozone production rate for Vosges forest mixture conditions than for BlackForest tree mixtures at identical NOx levels, with the difference increasing with temperature. The difference in ozone formation is analyzed in detail and the short-comings of reduced descriptions are discussed. The outcome serves as a to-do-list to allow accurate future ozone predictions influenced by the climate adaptation of forests and the change in forest species composition.

The second full annual inventory of Indiana's forests reports more than 4.75 million acres of forest land with an average volume of more than 2,000 cubic feet per acre. Forest land is dominated by the white oak/red oak/hickory forest type, which occupies nearly a third of the total forest land area. Seventy-six percent of forest land consists of sawtimber, 16...

The objective of this study is to reveal whether it is possible to predict rainfall, throughfall and stemflow in forest ecosystems with less effort, using several measurements of rainfall interception (hereafter interception) and an artificial neural network based linear regression model (ANN model). To this end, the Kerpe Research Forest in the province of Kocaeli, which houses stands of mixed deciduous-broadleaf forest (Castanea sativa Mill., Fagus orientalis Lipsky, Quercus spp.), black pi...

Discussing the importance of the Black aesthetic experience, Curtis examines Black cultural heritage and participatory style, the spiritual, and the creation and recreation of Black music. Advocating multicultural music education in teacher training, he suggests that Black music be studied for its value and contribution to society. Lists five ways…

This collection of papers deals with various aspects of the black female experience in America. "The Black Woman in Transition" discusses the effects of sexism and racism on black women with particular reference to employment and education; it is noted that black women, in comparison with other groups in society, suffer a proportionately higher…

This article argues that the stagnation, pessimism, and self-pity evident in recent Black writing results in part from the alienation of Black writers from the mainstream of Black life, and in part from the illusions that they share with other Blacks who have embraced the American value system. (Author/EB)

We present new AdS4 black hole solutions in N =2 gauged supergravity coupled to vector and hypermultiplets. We focus on a particular consistent truncation of M-theory on the homogeneous Sasaki–Einstein seven-manifold M 111, characterized by the presence of one Betti vector multiplet. We numerically construct static and spherically symmetric black holes with electric and magnetic charges, corresponding to M2 and M5 branes wrapping non-contractible cycles of the internal manifold. The novel feature characterizing these nonzero temperature configurations is the presence of a massive vector field halo. Moreover, we verify the first law of black hole mechanics and we study the thermodynamics in the canonical ensemble. We analyze the behavior of the massive vector field condensate across the small-large black hole phase transition and we interpret the process in the dual field theory.

... are reported in blacks received training to enhance skills for engaging communities, develop strategies, and sustain partnerships for reducing TB rates. Other CDC activities include a study to identify the socio-cultural, racial, and health ...

discusses the cosmology theory of a black hole, a region where an object loses its identity, but mass, charge, and momentum are conserved. Include are three possible formation processes, theorized properties, and three way they might eventually be detected. (DS)

A new solution of Einstein equation in general relativity is found. This solution solves an outstanding problem of thermodynamics and black hole physics. Also this work appears to conclude the interpretation of NUT spacetime. (author)

Shipboard, high volume air particulate samples were collected from the Black Sea atmosphere and analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrophotometry and ion chromatography for about 40 elements and ions. Concentrations of elements in the eastern and western parts of the Black Sea are different at the 95% confidence level, with lower concentrations in the eastern Black Sea. Back-trajectories and concentrations of elements in trajectory groups show that Europe accounts for more than 70% of the anthropogenic elements in the atmosphere. The average sulfate concentration was 7 μg/m 3 , which is comparable with rural sulfate levels in western Europe. Fluxes of elements from the atmosphere to the Black Sea are in good agreement with the results of similar flux calculations for other regions

Full Text Available This article examines the relative importance of race and socioeconomic status (SES in determining whether Black and White teenagers report having ever been pregnant. Data gathered from 1999 to 2006 by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention included 1,580 Black and White females aged 15 to 19 years. Results supported the effects of race and SES, with SES having the stronger effect. However, the effects of race and SES differ when controlling for the state of the economy. No difference between Blacks and Whites was found during better economic times. During 2003-2004, the period of greatest economic stress, race was determined to be the only predictor of teenage pregnancy. In particular, during 2005-2006, the reduction in pregnancy rates for Black minors (15-17 fell below those for White minors within their respective SES categories. Policy implications are discussed in light of these findings.

Including black holes in the scheme of thermodynamics has disclosed a deep-seated connection between gravitation, heat and the quantum that may lead us to a synthesis of the corresponding branches of physics

The physical arguments and problems of relativistic astrophysics are presented in a correct way, but without any higher mathematics. The book is addressed to teachers, experimental physicists, and others with a basic knowledge covering an introductory lecture in physics. The issues dealt with are: fundamentals of general relativity, classical tests of general relativity, curved space-time, stars and planets, pulsars, gravitational collapse and black holes, the search for black holes, gravitational waves, cosmology, cosmogony, and the early universe. (BJ/AK) [de

The effective action of $N=2$, $d=4$ supergravity is shown to acquire no quantum corrections in background metrics admitting super-covariantly constant spinors. In particular, these metrics include the Robinson-Bertotti metric (product of two 2-dimensional spaces of constant curvature) with all 8 supersymmetries unbroken. Another example is a set of arbitrary number of extreme Reissner-Nordstr\\"om black holes. These black holes break 4 of 8 supersymmetries, leaving the other 4 unbroken. We ha...

We study six-dimensional rotating black holes with bumpy horizons: these are topologically spherical, but the sizes of symmetric cycles on the horizon vary non-monotonically with the polar angle. We construct them numerically for the first three bumpy families, and follow them in solution space until they approach critical solutions with localized singularities on the horizon. We find strong evidence of the conical structures that have been conjectured to mediate the transitions to black ring...

British Dance: Black Routes re-examines the distinctive contributions made to British dance by dancers who are Black. Covering the period 1946 to the present, it presents a radical re-reading of dancers and their companies, placing their achievements within a broader historical, cultural and artistic context. The result of a two year research project, British Dance and the African Diaspora, led by editors Christy Adair and Ramsay Burt, the collection looks at artists working with contempor...

We review the remarkable relationship between the laws of black hole mechanics and the ordinary laws of thermodynamics. It is emphasized that - in analogy with the laws of thermodynamics - the validity the laws of black hole mechanics does not appear to depend upon the details of the underlying dynamical theory (i.e., upon the particular field equations of general relativity). It also is emphasized that a number of unresolved issues arise in ``ordinary thermodynamics'' in the context of gener...

Lowland boreal forest ecosystems in Alaska are dominated by wetlands comprised of a complex mosaic of fens, collapse-scar bogs, low shrub/scrub, and forests growing on elevated ice-rich permafrost soils. Thermokarst has affected the lowlands of the Tanana Flats in central Alaska for centuries, as thawing permafrost collapses forests that transition to wetlands. Located within the discontinuous permafrost zone, this region has significantly warmed over the past half-century, and much of these carbon-rich permafrost soils are now within ~0.5 °C of thawing. Increased permafrost thaw in lowland boreal forests in response to warming may have consequences for the climate system. This study evaluates the trajectories and potential drivers of 60 years of forest change in a landscape subjected to permafrost thaw in unburned dominant forest types (paper birch and black spruce) associated with location on elevated permafrost plateau and across multiple time periods (1949, 1978, 1986, 1998, and 2009) using historical and contemporary aerial and satellite images for change detection. We developed (i) a deterministic statistical model to evaluate the potential climatic controls on forest change using gradient boosting and regression tree analysis, and (ii) a 30 × 30 m land cover map of the Tanana Flats to estimate the potential landscape-level losses of forest area due to thermokarst from 1949 to 2009. Over the 60-year period, we observed a nonlinear loss of birch forests and a relatively continuous gain of spruce forest associated with thermokarst and forest succession, while gradient boosting/regression tree models identify precipitation and forest fragmentation as the primary factors controlling birch and spruce forest change, respectively. Between 1950 and 2009, landscape-level analysis estimates a transition of ~15 km² or ~7% of birch forests to wetlands, where the greatest change followed warm periods. This work highlights that the vulnerability and resilience of

Aim of study: We aim at (i) developing a reference definition of mixed forests in order to harmonize comparative research in mixed forests and (ii) review the research perspectives in mixed forests. Area of study: The definition is developed in Europe but can be tested worldwide. Material...... and Methods: Review of existent definitions of mixed forests based and literature review encompassing dynamics, management and economic valuation of mixed forests. Main results: A mixed forest is defined as a forest unit, excluding linear formations, where at least two tree species coexist at any...... density in mixed forests, (iii) conversion of monocultures to mixed-species forest and (iv) economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by mixed forests. Research highlights: The definition is considered a high-level one which encompasses previous attempts to define mixed forests. Current fields...

We reviewed the principles and key literature related to forest tenure and sustainable forest management, and then examined the status of sustainable forestry and land ownership at the aggregate national level for major forested countries. The institutional design principles suggested by Ostrom are well accepted for applications to public, communal, and private lands....

The two native California oaks in the forest zone of California are California black oak (Quercus kelloggii Newb.) and tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus [Hook. and Arn.] Rehd.). Both are ancient species with many adaptations to withstand California's Mediterranean climate, but some weaknesses as well. Both sprout vigorously...

Full Text Available Nowadays, needs for forest and raw wood materials has been increasing with the economic developments of the societies. But, the forest areas have been decreasing because of the pressures of the societies on forest especially in developing countries. In such regions, forest areas were on high mountainous areas. This situation is the same in Turkey, especially east Black Sea region. In Turkey, forest roads are still B forms of secondary roads. The wide of these roads are minimum 4 meters, generally minimum curve radius of them are 10 meters, and some times less then that. These roads do not have pavement and maintenance works were not made there too. And these roads are not suitable for transportation with truck-trailer. The transhipment problems form a typical example of the linear programming method. When this method applied, as well as solving transportation problems, distribution problems are solved related to transhipment.

Belief in the existence of black holes is the ultimate act of faith for a physicist. First suggested by the English clergyman John Michell in the year 1784, the gravitational pull of a black hole is so strong that nothing - not even light - can escape. Gravity might be the weakest of the fundamental forces but black-hole physics is not for the faint-hearted. Black holes present obvious problems for would-be observers because they cannot, by definition, be seen with conventional telescopes - although before the end of the decade gravitational-wave detectors should be able to study collisions between black holes. Until then astronomers can only infer the existence of a black hole from its gravitational influence on other matter, or from the X-rays emitted by gas and dust as they are dragged into the black hole. However, once this material passes through the 'event horizon' that surrounds the black hole, we will never see it again - not even with X-ray specs. Despite these observational problems, most physicists and astronomers believe that black holes do exist. Small black holes a few kilometres across are thought to form when stars weighing more than about two solar masses collapse under the weight of their own gravity, while supermassive black holes weighing millions of solar masses appear to be present at the centre of most galaxies. Moreover, some brave physicists have proposed ways to make black holes - or at least event horizons - in the laboratory. The basic idea behind these 'artificial black holes' is not to compress a large amount of mass into a small volume, but to reduce the speed of light in a moving medium to less than the speed of the medium and so create an event horizon. The parallels with real black holes are not exact but the experiments could shed new light on a variety of phenomena. The first challenge, however, is to get money for the research. One year on from a high-profile meeting on artificial black holes in London, for

Open lichen woodlands (LWs) are degraded stands that lack the ability to regenerate naturally due to a succession of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances. As they represent both interesting forest restoration and carbon sequestration opportunities, we tested disc scarification and planting of two sizes of containerized black spruce (Picea mariana Mill. (BSP)) seedlings for their afforestation. We compared treatment of unproductive LWs to reforestation of harvested, closed-crown black spr...

We discuss geometrical properties of the horizon surface of five-dimensional rotating black holes and black rings. Geometrical invariants characterizing these 3D geometries are calculated. We obtain a global embedding of the 5D rotating black horizon surface into a flat space. We also describe the Kaluza-Klein reduction of the black ring solution (along the direction of its rotation) which, though it is nakedly singular, relates this solution to the 4D metric of a static black hole distorted by the presence of external scalar (dilaton) and vector ('electromagnetic') fields. The properties of the reduced black hole horizon and its embedding in E 3 are briefly discussed

of land requiring restoration implies the need for spatial prioritization of restoration efforts according to cost-benefit analyses that include ecological risks. To design resistant and resilient ecosystems that can adapt to emerging circumstances, an adaptive management approach is needed. Global change......, in particular, imparts a high degree of uncertainty about the future ecological and societal conditions of forest ecosystems to be restored, as well as their desired goods and services. We must also reconsider the suite of species incorporated into restoration with the aim of moving toward more stress resistant...... and competitive combinations in the longer term. Non-native species may serve an important role under some circumstances, e.g., to facilitate reintroduction of native species. Propagation and field establishment techniques must promote survival through seedling stress resistance and site preparation. An improved...

The significance of the urban forest resource and the powerful forces for change in the urban environment make sustainability a critical issue in urban forest management. The diversity, connectedness, and dynamics of the urban forest establish the context for management that will determine the sustainability of forest structure, health, functions, and benefits. A...

The first completed annual inventory of North Dakota's forests reports estimates of more than 724,000 acres of forest land. Information about forest attributes and forest health is presented along with information on agents of change including changing land use patterns and the introduction of nonnative plants, insects, and disease.

"Forest health" is an important concept often not covered in tree, forest, insect, or fungal ecology and biology. With minimal, inexpensive equipment, students can investigate and conduct their own forest health survey to assess the percentage of trees with natural or artificial wounds or stress. Insects and diseases in the forest are…

The first full, annualized inventory of Wisconsin's forests was completed in 2004 after 6,478 forested plots were visited. There are more than 16.0 million acres of forest land in the Wisconsin, nearly half of the State's land area; 15.8 million acres meet the definition of timberland. The total area of both forest land and timberland continues an upward...

There has been widespread interest in applying new forest practices based on concepts presented in U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR-220, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests." This collection of papers (PSW-GTR-237) summarizes the state of the science in some topics relevant to this forest management approach...

Coatings comprising carbon nanotubes are very black, that is, characterized by uniformly low reflectance over a broad range of wavelengths from the visible to far infrared. Arguably, there is no other material that is comparable. This is attributable to the intrinsic properties of graphitic material as well as the morphology (density, thickness, disorder, and tube size). We briefly describe a history of other coatings such as nickel phosphorous, gold black, and carbon-based paints and the comparable structural morphology that we associate with very black coatings. The need for black coatings is persistent for a variety of applications ranging from baffles and traps to blackbodies and thermal detectors. Applications for space-based instruments are of interest and we present a review of space qualification and the results of outgassing measurements. Questions of nanoparticle safety depend on the nanotube size and aspect ratio as well as the nature and route of exposure. We describe the growth of carbon nanotube forests along with the catalyst requirements and temperature limitations. We also describe coatings derived from carbon nanotubes and applied like paint. Building the measurement apparatus and determining the optical properties of something having negligible reflectance are challenging and we summarize the methods and means for such measurements. There exists information in the literature for effective media approximations to model the dielectric function of vertically aligned arrays. We summarize this along with the refractive index of graphite from the literature that is necessary for modeling the optical properties. In our experience, the scientific questions can be overshadowed by practical matters, so we provide an appendix of recipes for making as-grown and sprayed coatings along with an example of reflectance measurements.

The annual inventory of West Virginia's forests, completed in 2013, covers nearly 12.2 million acres of forest land with an average volume of more than 2,300 cubic feet per acre. This report is based data collected from 2,808 plots located across the State. Forest land is dominated by the oak/hickory forest-type group, which occupies 74 percent of total forest...

The second full annual inventory of Illinois' forests, completed in 2010, reports more than 4.8 million acres of forest land and 97 tree species. Forest land is dominated by oak/hickory and elm/ash/cottonwood forest-type groups, which occupy 93 percent of total forest land area. The volume of growing stock on timberland totals 7.2 billion cubic feet. The average...

The second full annual inventory of Nebraska's forests reports more than 1.5 million acres of forest land and 39 tree species. Forest land is dominated by the elm/ash/cottonwood and oak/hickory forest types, which occupy nearly half of the total forest land area. The volume of growing stock on timberland currently totals 1.1 billion cubic feet. The average annual...

The first full annual inventory of New Jersey's forests reports more than 2.0 million acres of forest land and 83 tree species. Forest land is dominated by oak-hickory forest types in the north and pitch pine forest types in the south. The volume of growing stock on timberland has been rising since 1956 and currently totals 3.4 billion cubic feet. The average...

Forest grammar,a new type of high-dimensional grammar,is proposed in this paper,of which both the left and the right parts of every production are concatenations of tree structures.A classification of forest grammar is studied,especially,a subclass of the forest grammar,i.e.the context-sensitive forest grammar,and one of its subclasses is defined,called the weak precedence forest grammar.

The second full annual inventory of New Jerseyâs forests reports more than 2.0 million acres of forest land and 77 tree species. Forest land is dominated by oak/hickory forest types in the north and pitch pine forest types in the south. The volume of growing stock on timberland has been rising since 1956 and currently totals 3.3 billion cubic feet. Average annual net...

The seventh inventory of Michigan's forests, completed in 2009, describes more than 19.9 million acres of forest land. The data in this report are based on visits to 7,516 forested plots from 2005 to 2009. Timberland accounts for 97 percent of this forest land, and 62 percent is privately owned. The sugar maple/beech/yellow birch forest type accounts for 18...

The first annual inventory of Michigan's forests, completed in 2004, covers more than 19.3 million acres of forest land. The data in this report are based on visits to 10,355 forested plots from 2000 to 2004. In addition to detailed information on forest attributes, this report includes data on forest health, biomass, land-use change, and timber-product outputs....

The final merger of two black holes is expected to be the strongest source of gravitational waves for both ground-based detectors such as LIGO and VIRGO, as well as future. space-based detectors. Since the merger takes place in the regime of strong dynamical gravity, computing the resulting gravitational waveforms requires solving the full Einstein equations of general relativity on a computer. For many years, numerical codes designed to simulate black hole mergers were plagued by a host of instabilities. However, recent breakthroughs have conquered these instabilities and opened up this field dramatically. This talk will focus on.the resulting 'gold rush' of new results that is revealing the dynamics and waveforms of binary black hole mergers, and their applications in gravitational wave detection, testing general relativity, and astrophysics

Black hole gravitohydromagnetics (GHM) is developed from the rudiments to the frontiers of research in this book. GHM describes plasma interactions that combine the effects of gravity and a strong magnetic field, in the vicinity (ergosphere) of a rapidly rotating black hole. This topic was created in response to the astrophysical quest to understand the central engines of radio loud extragalactic radio sources. The theory describes a "torsional tug of war" between rotating ergospheric plasma and the distant asymptotic plasma that extracts the rotational inertia of the black hole. The recoil from the struggle between electromagnetic and gravitational forces near the event horizon is manifested as a powerful pair of magnetized particle beams (jets) that are ejected at nearly the speed of light. These bipolar jets feed large-scale magnetized plasmoids on scales as large as millions of light years (the radio lobes of extragalactic radio sources). This interaction can initiate jets that transport energy fluxes exc...

We demonstrate that rapidly spinning black holes can display a new type of nonlinear parametric instability-which is triggered above a certain perturbation amplitude threshold-akin to the onset of turbulence, with possibly observable consequences. This instability transfers from higher temporal and azimuthal spatial frequencies to lower frequencies-a phenomenon reminiscent of the inverse cascade displayed by (2+1)-dimensional fluids. Our finding provides evidence for the onset of transitory turbulence in astrophysical black holes and predicts observable signatures in black hole binaries with high spins. Furthermore, it gives a gravitational description of this behavior which, through the fluid-gravity duality, can potentially shed new light on the remarkable phenomena of turbulence in fluids.

We propose a correspondence between an Anyon Van der Waals fluid and a (2 + 1) dimensional AdS black hole. Anyons are particles with intermediate statistics that interpolates between a Fermi-Dirac statistics and a Bose-Einstein one. A parameter α (0 quasi Fermi-Dirac statistics for α >αc, but a quasi Bose-Einstein statistics for α quasi Bose-Einstein statistics. For α >αc and a range of values of the cosmological constant, there is, however, no event horizon so there is no black hole solution. Thus, for these values of cosmological constants, the AdS Anyon Van der Waals black holes have only quasi Bose-Einstein statistics.

Leonhardt, Ulf [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews (United Kingdom)

2001-02-01

In modern physics, the unification of gravity and quantum mechanics remains a mystery. Gravity rules the macroscopic world of planets, stars and galaxies, while quantum mechanics governs the micro-cosmos of atoms, light quanta and elementary particles. However, cosmologists believe that these two disparate worlds may meet at the edges of black holes. Now Luis Garay, James Anglin, Ignacio Cirac and Peter Zoller at the University of Innsbruck in Austria have proposed a realistic way to make an artificial 'sonic' black hole in a tabletop experiment (L J Garay et al. 2000 Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 4643). In the February issue of Physics World, Ulf Leonhardt of the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, UK, explains how the simulated black holes work. (U.K.)

We propose here that the well-known black hole paradoxes such as the information loss and teleological nature of the event horizon are restricted to a particular idealized case, which is the homogeneous dust collapse model. In this case, the event horizon, which defines the boundary of the black hole, forms initially, and the singularity in the interior of the black hole at a later time. We show that, in contrast, gravitational collapse from physically more realistic initial conditions typically leads to the scenario in which the event horizon and space-time singularity form simultaneously. We point out that this apparently simple modification can mitigate the causality and teleological paradoxes, and also lends support to two recently suggested solutions to the information paradox, namely, the ‘firewall’ and ‘classical chaos’ proposals. (paper)

Black holes are difficult to study because they emit no light. To overcome this obstacle, scientists are trying to recreate a black hole in the laboratory. The article gives an overview of the theories of Einstein and Hawking as they pertain to the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, scheduled for completion in 2006. The LHC will create two beams of protons traveling in opposing directions that will collide and create a plethora of scattered elementary particles. Protons traveling in opposite directions at very high velocities may create particles that come close enough to each other to feel their compacted higher dimensions and create a mega force of gravity that can create tiny laboratory-sized black holes for fractions of a second. The experiments carried out with LHC will be used to test modern string theory and relativity.

Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) are a major component of terrestrial invertebrate communities and have been used as bioindicators of habitat change and disturbance. The Black Hills of South Dakota is a small area with a high biodiversity, but the ground beetles of this region are little studied. The habitat preferences of ground beetles in the Black Hills are unknown, and baseline data must be collected if these beetles are to be used in the future as bioindicators. Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) were collected from pitfall traps at two sites in each of five kinds of habitats (grassland, bur oak-ironwood forests, ponderosa pine-common juniper forests, aspen-pine forests, and a spruce forest) from which habitat structure characteristics and plant abundance data also were collected. In total, 27 species of ground beetles were identified. Although some species, such as Dicaelus sculptilis Say were found in most habitats, other species showed distinct habitat preferences: Poecilus lucublandus (Say) preferred oak forests, Pasimachus elongatus LeConte preferred grasslands, and Calathus ingratus Dejean preferred high-elevation aspen-pine forests. Pterostichus adstrictus Escholtz was found only in woodlands, and Carabus taedatus Say strictly in higher elevation (over 1,500 m) aspen or coniferous woods, and may represent relict populations of boreal species. Elevation, exposure to sunlight, and cover of woody plants strongly influence the structure of carabid communities in the Black Hills.

The 'no-hair' theorem, a key result in general relativity, states that an isolated black hole is defined by only three parameters: mass, angular momentum, and electric charge; this asymptotic state is reached on a light-crossing time scale. We find that the no-hair theorem is not formally applicable for black holes formed from the collapse of a rotating neutron star. Rotating neutron stars can self-produce particles via vacuum breakdown forming a highly conducting plasma magnetosphere such that magnetic field lines are effectively ''frozen in'' the star both before and during collapse. In the limit of no resistivity, this introduces a topological constraint which prohibits the magnetic field from sliding off the newly-formed event horizon. As a result, during collapse of a neutron star into a black hole, the latter conserves the number of magnetic flux tubes N B =eΦ ∞ /(πc(ℎ/2π)), where Φ ∞ ≅2π 2 B NS R NS 3 /(P NS c) is the initial magnetic flux through the hemispheres of the progenitor and out to infinity. We test this theoretical result via 3-dimensional general relativistic plasma simulations of rotating black holes that start with a neutron star dipole magnetic field with no currents initially present outside the event horizon. The black hole's magnetosphere subsequently relaxes to the split-monopole magnetic field geometry with self-generated currents outside the event horizon. The dissipation of the resulting equatorial current sheet leads to a slow loss of the anchored flux tubes, a process that balds the black hole on long resistive time scales rather than the short light-crossing time scales expected from the vacuum no-hair theorem.

The scope of this book is two-fold: the first part gives a fully detailed and pedagogical presentation of the Hawking effect and its physical implications, and the second discusses the backreaction problem, especially in connection with exactly solvable semiclassical models that describe analytically the black hole evaporation process. The book aims to establish a link between the general relativistic viewpoint on black hole evaporation and the new CFT-type approaches to the subject. The detailed discussion on backreaction effects is also extremely valuable.

Binary black hole mergers are a promising source of gravitational waves for interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Recent advances in numerical relativity have revealed the predictions of General Relativity for the strong burst of radiation generated in the final moments of binary coalescence. We explore features in the merger radiation which characterize the final moments of merger and ringdown. Interpreting the waveforms in terms of an rotating implicit radiation source allows a unified phenomenological description of the system from inspiral through ringdown. Common features in the waveforms allow quantitative description of the merger signal which may provide insights for observations large-mass black hole binaries.

The "black bag" is outgrowth of astronaut monitoring technology from NASA's Johnson Space Center. Technically known as the portable medical status system, a highly advanced physician's "black bag" weighs less than 30 pounds, yet contains equipment for monitoring and recording vital signs, electrocardiograms, and electroencephalograms. Liquid crystal displays are used to present 15 digits of data simultaneously for long periods of time without excessive use of battery power. Single printed circuit card contains all circuitry required to measure and display vital signs such as heart and respiration rate, temperature, and blood pressure.

We find a family of novel supersymmetric phases of the D1-D5 CFT, which in certain ranges of charges have more entropy than all known ensembles. We also find bulk BPS configurations that exist in the same range of parameters as these phases, and have more entropy than a BMPV black hole; they can be thought of as coming from a BMPV black hole shedding a "hair" condensate outside of the horizon. The entropy of the bulk configurations is smaller than that of the CFT phases, which indicates that ...

A (3 +1 )-dimensional asymptotically flat Kerr black hole angular speed Ω+ can be used to define an effective spring constant, k =m Ω+2. Its maximum value is the Schwarzschild surface gravity, k =κ , which rapidly weakens as the black hole spins down and the temperature increases. The Hawking temperature is expressed in terms of the spring constant: 2 π T =κ -k . Hooke's law, in the extremal limit, provides the force F =1 /4 , which is consistent with the conjecture of maximum force in general relativity.

We describe efforts over the last six years to implement regularization methods suitable for studying one or more interacting black holes by direct N-body simulations. Three different methods have been adapted to large-N systems: (i) Time-Transformed Leapfrog, (ii) Wheel-Spoke, and (iii) Algorithmic Regularization. These methods have been tried out with some success on GRAPE-type computers. Special emphasis has also been devoted to including post-Newtonian terms, with application to moderately massive black holes in stellar clusters. Some examples of simulations leading to coalescence by gravitational radiation will be presented to illustrate the practical usefulness of such methods.

This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the propagation of waves in the presence of black holes. While emphasizing intuitive physical thinking in their treatment of the techniques of analysis of scattering, the authors also include chapters on the rigorous mathematical development of the subject. Introducing the concepts of scattering by considering the simplest, scalar wave case of scattering by a spherical (Schwarzschild) black hole, the book then develops the formalism of spin weighted spheroidal harmonics and of plane wave representations for neutrino, electromagnetic, and gravitational scattering. Details and results of numerical computations are given. The techniques involved have important applications (references are given) in acoustical and radar imaging

One would expect spacetime to have a foam-like structure on the Planck scale with a very high topology. If spacetime is simply connected (which is assumed in this paper), the non-trivial homology occurs in dimension two, and spacetime can be regarded as being essentially the topological sum of $S^2\\times S^2$ and $K3$ bubbles. Comparison with the instantons for pair creation of black holes shows that the $S^2\\times S^2$ bubbles can be interpreted as closed loops of virtual black holes. It is ...

We present what we believe is the first example of a "λ-line" phase transition in black hole thermodynamics. This is a line of (continuous) second order phase transitions which in the case of liquid ^{4}He marks the onset of superfluidity. The phase transition occurs for a class of asymptotically anti-de Sitter hairy black holes in Lovelock gravity where a real scalar field is conformally coupled to gravity. We discuss the origin of this phase transition and outline the circumstances under which it (or generalizations of it) could occur.

A light-front renormalization group analysis is applied to study matter which falls into massive black holes, and the related problem of matter with transplankian energies. One finds that the rate of matter spreading over the black hole's horizon unexpectedly saturates the causality bound. This is related to the transverse growth behavior of transplankian particles as their longitudinal momentum increases. This growth behavior suggests a natural mechanism to implement 't Hooft's scenario that the universe is an image of data stored on a 2 + 1 dimensional hologram-like projection

Forest dynamics encompass changes in stand structure, species composition, and species interactions with disturbance and environment over a range of spatial and temporal scales. For convenience, spatial scale is defined as individual tree, neighborhood, stand, and landscape. Whether a given canopy-leveling disturbance will initiate a sequence of development in structure with little change in composition or initiate an episode of succession depends on a match or mismatch, respectively, with traits of the dominant tree species that allow the species to survive disturbance. When these match, certain species-disturbance type combinations lock in a pattern of stand and landscape dynamics that can persist for several generations of trees; thus, dominant tree species regulate, as well as respond to, disturbance. A complex interaction among tree species, neighborhood effects, disturbance type and severity, landform, and soils determines how stands of differing composition form and the mosaic of stands that compose the landscape. Neighborhood effects (e.g., serotinous seed rain, sprouting, shading, leaf-litter chemistry, and leaf-litter physical properties) operate at small spatial extents of the individual tree and its neighbors but play a central role in forest dynamics by contributing to patch formation at stand scales and dynamics of the entire landscape. Dominance by tree species with neutral to negative neighborhood effects leads to unstable landscape dynamics in disturbance-prone regions, wherein most stands are undergoing succession; stability can only occur under very low-severity disturbance regimes. Dominance by species with positive effects leads to stable landscape dynamics wherein only a small proportion of stands undergo succession at any one time. Positive neighborhood effects are common in temperate and boreal zones, whereas negative effects are more common in tropical climates. Landscapes with positive dynamics have alternate categories of dynamics

Describes the careers and musical achievements of Blacks who were forerunners in jazz, blues, gospel, music, spirituals, band music, classical music, ragtime, and opera. The list was compiled to provide teachers with historical background information for "Black History Month." (AM)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Microsatellite analysis of black sea bass was undertaken to determine magnitude and direction of mixing of black seabass across the Hatteras boundary, as well as...

Beginning with an overview of the theory of black holes by the editor, this book presents a collection of ten chapters by leading physicists dealing with the variety of quantum mechanical and quantum gravitational effects pertinent to black holes. The contributions address topics such as Hawking radiation, the thermodynamics of black holes, the information paradox and firewalls, Monsters, primordial black holes, self-gravitating Bose-Einstein condensates, the formation of small black holes in high energetic collisions of particles, minimal length effects in black holes and small black holes at the Large Hadron Collider. Viewed as a whole the collection provides stimulating reading for researchers and graduate students seeking a summary of the quantum features of black holes.

We review the existence of exact hairy black holes in asymptotically flat, anti-de Sitter and de Sitter space-times. We briefly discuss the issue of stability and the charging of the black holes with a Maxwell field.

After having recalled the challenges the French forest has to face, and a brief overview of the status of forests in the world, this report proposes an overview of actions which are implemented to strengthen the carbon sequestration role of forests, at the international level and in France. It discusses the distribution of carbon, the forest carbon stocks (in the world, Europe and France), the actions against climate change, the costs and financing of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the forest sector. It comments the status of international negotiations and how forests are taken into account. It presents the French forest and wood sector (characteristics of the forest in metropolitan France and overseas, wood as material and as energy). It recalls the commitment of the Grenelle de l'Environnement, and indicates the current forest studies

... Advisory Board (Board) will meet in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Board is established consistent with the... include time for people to make oral statements of three minutes or less. Individuals wishing to make an...

Full Text Available We review black-hole solutions of higher-dimensional vacuum gravity and higher-dimensional supergravity theories. The discussion of vacuum gravity is pedagogical, with detailed reviews of Myers–Perry solutions, black rings, and solution-generating techniques. We discuss black-hole solutions of maximal supergravity theories, including black holes in anti-de Sitter space. General results and open problems are discussed throughout.

Little is known about the dynamics of coarse woody debris (CWD) in forests that were originally characterized by frequent, low-moderate intensity fires. We investigated effects of prescribed burning at the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in northeastern California following creation of two stand structure conditions: 1) high structural diversity (HiD) that included...

...; Withdrawal of National Forest System Land for Steamboat Rock Picnic Grounds; South Dakota AGENCY: Bureau of... the Steamboat Rock Picnic Grounds within the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota. DATES... Steamboat Rock Picnic Grounds. Order By virtue of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior by...

We consider the Schwarzschild black hole and show how, in a theory with limiting curvature, the physical singularity ''inside it'' is removed. The resulting spacetime is geodesically complete. The internal structure of this nonsingular black hole is analogous to Russian nesting dolls. Namely, after falling into the black hole of radius r{sub g}, an observer, instead of being destroyed at the singularity, gets for a short time into the region with limiting curvature. After that he re-emerges in the near horizon region of a spacetime described by the Schwarzschild metric of a gravitational radius proportional to r{sub g}{sup 1/3}. In the next cycle, after passing the limiting curvature, the observer finds himself within a black hole of even smaller radius proportional to r{sub g}{sup 1/9}, and so on. Finally after a few cycles he will end up in the spacetime where he remains forever at limiting curvature. (orig.)

This article explores the range of experiences and meanings of Black life in suburban space. Drawing from educational, historical, and sociological literatures, I argue that an underconsideration of suburban space has left many portraits of educational inequality incomplete. The article outlines the emergence of American suburbs and the formation…

The theory is explained of the origination of white holes as a dual phenomenon with regard to the formation of black holes. Theoretically it is possible to derive the white hole by changing the sign of time in solving the general theory of relativity equation implying the black hole. The white hole represents the amount of particles formed in the vicinity of a singularity. For a distant observer, matter composed of these particles expands and the outer boundaries of this matter approach from the inside the gravitational radius Rsub(r). At t>>Rsub(r)/c all radiation or expulsion of matter terminates. For the outside observer the white hole exists for an unlimited length of time. In fact, however, it acquires the properties of a black hole and all processes in it cease. The qualitative difference between a white hole and a black hole is in that a white hole is formed as the result of an inner quantum explosion from the singularity to the gravitational radius and not as the result of a gravitational collapse, i.e., the shrinkage of diluted matter towards the gravitational radius. (J.B.)

The theory is explained of the origination of white holes as a dual phenomenon with regard to the formation of black holes. Theoretically it is possible to derive the white hole by changing the sign of time in solving the general theory of relativity equation implying the black hole. The white hole represents the amount of particles formed in the vicinity of a singularity. For a distant observer, matter composed of these particles expands and the outer boundaries of this matter approach from the inside the gravitational radius R/sub r/. At t>>R/sub r//c all radiation or expulsion of matter terminates. For the outside observer the white hole exists for an unlimited length of time. In fact, however, it acquires the properties of a black hole and all processes in it cease. The qualitative difference between a white hole and a black hole is in that a white hole is formed as the result of an inner quantum explosion from the singularity to the gravitational radius and not as the result of a gravitational collapse, i.e., the shrinkage of diluted matter towards the gravitational radius.

Many of our publications on the establishment, management, and utilization of black walnut, butternut, and associated high-value hardwoods are printed in conference proceedings or scientific journals that are not readily available at most public libraries or on the internet. As Chair of the Education Committee, I have tried to summarize for you the relevant findings of...

Among the fascinating phenomena predicted by General Relativity, Einstein's theory of gravity, black holes and gravitational waves, are particularly important in astronomy. Though once viewed as a mathematical oddity, black holes are now recognized as the central engines of many of astronomy's most energetic cataclysms. Gravitational waves, though weakly interacting with ordinary matter, may be observed with new gravitational wave telescopes, opening a new window to the universe. These observations promise a direct view of the strong gravitational dynamics involving dense, often dark objects, such as black holes. The most powerful of these events may be merger of two colliding black holes. Though dark, these mergers may briefly release more energy that all the stars in the visible universe, in gravitational waves. General relativity makes precise predictions for the gravitational-wave signatures of these events, predictions which we can now calculate with the aid of supercomputer simulations. These results provide a foundation for interpreting expect observations in the emerging field of gravitational wave astronomy.

This dictionary is an encyclopedic survey of the cultural background and development of the black American, covering the basic issues, events, contributions and biographies germane to the subject. The author-compiler is Chairman of Classical Languages Department at Southeastern State College, Durant, Oklahoma. Richard Runes is practicing law as a…

Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite say they have found newborn black holes, just seconds old, in a confused state of existence. The holes are consuming material falling into them while somehow propelling other material away at great speeds. "First comes a blast of gamma rays followed by intense pulses of x-rays. The energies involved are much…

Statistics are given for the Australian black coal industry for 1970-3 (production, value, employment, wages and salaries, productivity, trade, stocks, consumption, export contracts, exploration, etc.). In less detail, world coal trade is reviewed and coke production is mentioned briefly. (LTN )

This second edition of Australian black coal statistics replaces the Joint Coal Board's publication 'Black coal in Australia'. It includes an expanded international coal trade supplement. Sections cover resources of black coal, coal supply and demand, coal production, employment and productivity of mines, export data, coal consumption and a directory of producers.

Despite the growing research that outlines the experiences of Blacks and women undergraduates in engineering, little is known about Black women in this field. The purpose of this qualitative study was to uncover how eight Black undergraduate women in engineering understood their race and gender identities in a culture that can be oppressive to…

In black-spot poison ivy dermatitis, a black lacquerlike substance forms on the skin when poison ivy resin is exposed to air. Although the Toxicodendron group of plants is estimated to be the most common cause of allergic contact dermatitis in the United States, black-spot poison ivy dermatitis is relatively rare.

We used queer theory to encourage readers to think differently about previous theories about Black racial identity development. Queer theory facilitates new and deeper understandings of how Black people develop their racial identities, prompting more fluidity and nuance. Specifically, we present a queered model of Black racial identity development…

A leadership typology is developed which describes the relationship of Black leadership styles to the Black masses. The role that such leadership plays in the political integration of Blacks as an ethnic group is analyzed. Four authority types are discussed: traditional brokerage, cultural nationalist, religious nationalist, and faddist…

We apply the warped product space-time scheme to the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black holes and the Reissner-Nordstroem-anti-de Sitter black hole to investigate their interior solutions in terms of warped products. It is shown that there exist no discontinuities of the Ricci and Einstein curvatures across event horizons of these black holes

A numerical computer study of hydromagnetic flow near a black hole is presented. First, the equations of motion are developed to a form suitable for numerical computations. Second, the results of calculations describing the magnetic torques exerted by a rotating black hole on a surrounding magnetic plasma and the electric charge that is induced on the surface of the black hole are presented. (auth)

We present the combination of black silicon texturing and blackened bus-bar strings as a potential method for obtaining all-black solar panels, while using conventional, front-contacted solar cells. Black silicon was realized by mask-less reactive ion etching resulting in total, average reflectance...... below 0.5% across a 156x156 mm2 silicon wafer. Black bus-bars were realized by oxidized copper resulting in reflectance below 3% in the entire visible wavelength range. The combination of these two technologies may result in aesthetic, all-black panels based on conventional, front-contacted solar cells...

Forest inventory in Myanmar started in 1850s. Up till 1975, Myanmar Forest Department conducted forest inventories covering approximately one forest division every year. The National Forest Survey and Inventory Project funded by UNDP and assisted by FAO commenced in 1981 and the National Forest Management and Inventory project followed in 1986. Up till end March 1993, pre-investment inventory has covered 26.7 million acres, reconnaissance inventory 5.4 million acres and management inventory has carried out in 12 townships

Forest inventory in Myanmar started in 1850s. Up till 1975, Myanmar Forest Department conducted forest inventories covering approximately one forest division every year. The National Forest Survey and Inventory Project funded by UNDP and assisted by FAO commenced in 1981 and the National Forest Management and Inventory project followed in 1986. Up till end March 1993, pre-investment inventory has covered 26.7 million acres, reconnaissance inventory 5.4 million acres and management inventory has carried out in 12 townships

This bulletin describes forest resource characteristics of Mississippiâs national forests, with emphasis on DeSoto National Forest, following the 2006 survey completed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Mississippiâs national forests comprise > 1 million acres of forest land, or about 7 percent of all forest...

As the discovery of the expansion of the universe and of black holes put the study of cosmology into question again because it now refers to invisible things such as black holes, black energy and black matter, the author proposes an other view on the universe within such a context. He first discusses these three enigmas of black matter, black energy and black holes. In a second part, he addresses, discusses and comments five illusions: the Uranian illusion (questions of the existence of an anti-world, of black matter temperature), the Mercurian illusion (quantum gravity, the string theory), the Martian illusion (a patchwork universe, the illusion of the infinite), the cosmic Maya (the John Wheeler's cup, the holographic universe), and the narcissistic illusion

Black hole systems are among the most promising sources for a gravitational wave detection project. Now, China is planning to construct a space-based laser interferometric detector as a follow-on mission of LISA in the near future. Aiming to provide some theoretical support to this detection project on the numerical relativity side, we focus on black hole systems simulation in this work. Considering the globular galaxy, multiple black hole systems also likely to exist in our universe and play a role as a source for the gravitational wave detector we are considering. We will give a progress report in this paper on our black hole system simulation. More specifically, we will present triple black hole simulation together with binary black hole simulation. On triple black hole simulations, one novel perturbational method is proposed.

We analyze the statistical mechanics of a gas of neutral and charged black holes. The microcanonical ensemble is the only possible approach to this system, and the equilibrium configuration is the one for which most of the energy is carried by a single black hole. Schwarzschild black holes are found to obey the statistical bootstrap condition. In all cases, the microcanonical temperature is identical to the Hawking temperature of the most massive black hole in the gas. U(1) charges in general break the bootstrap property. The problems of black-hole decay and of quantum coherence are also addressed

Get the most juice out of your BlackBerry handheld!. Feature-rich and complex, the BlackBerry is the number one smartphone in the corporate world is among the most popular handhelds for business users. This new and updated edition includes all the latest and greatest information on new and current BlackBerry mobile devices. Covering a range of valuable how-to topics, this helpful guide explores the BlackBerry's most useful features, techniques for getting the most out of your BlackBerry, and practical information about power usage.: Covers all aspects of the number one smartphone in the corpor

A possible process to destroy a black hole consists on throwing point particles with sufficiently large angular momentum into the black hole. In the case of Kerr black holes, it was shown by Wald that particles with dangerously large angular momentum are simply not captured by the hole, and thus the event horizon is not destroyed. Here we reconsider this gedanken experiment for black holes in higher dimensions. We show that this particular way of destroying a black hole does not succeed and that Cosmic Censorship is preserved.

We investigated how landscape features influence gene flow of black bears by testing the relative support for 36 alternative landscape resistance hypotheses, including isolation by distance (IBD) in each of 12 study areas in the north central U.S. Rocky Mountains. The study areas all contained the same basic elements, but differed in extent of forest fragmentation,...

Slow-growing conifers of the northern boreal forest may require several decades to reach reproductive maturity, making them vulnerable to increases in disturbance frequency. Here, we examine the relationship between stand age and seed productivity of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.) in Yukon Territory and Alaska....

Young California black oak (Quercus kelloggii Newb.) stands usually require thinning to increase production of acorns and wood products, but epicormic branches, which yield no acorns and constitute a serious lumber degrade. often result. A crown thinning in 60-year-old hardwood stands on a south exposure at the Challenge Experimental Forest in thenorthern Sierra Nevada...

Reduction of crown fire hazard in Pinus ponderosa forests in the Black Hills, SD, often focuses on the removal of overstorey trees to reduce crown bulk density. Dense ponderosa pine regeneration establishes several years after treatment and eventually increases crown fire risk if allowed to grow. Using prescribed fire to control this regeneration is...

We used population- and individual-based genetic approaches to assess barriers to movement in black-backed woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus), a fire-specialist that mainly occupies the boreal forest in North America. We tested if male and female woodpeckers exhibited the same movement patterns using both spatially implicit and explicit genetic analyses to define...

Mountain pine beetle-killed ponderosa pine trees in three stands of different stocking levels near Bear Mountain in the Black Hills National Forest were surveyed over a 5-year period to determine how long they persisted as unbroken snags. Rate of breakage varied during the first 5 years after MPB infestation: only one tree broke during the first 2 years in the three...

Densely vegetated environments have hindered collection of basic population parameters on forest-dwelling ungulates. Our objective was to develop a mark-recapture technique that used DNA from fecal pellets to overcome constraints associated with estimating abundance of ungulates in landscapes where direct observation is difficult. We tested our technique on Sitka black...

Merriam's turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) were introduced into South Dakota in the late 1940's and have since expanded to occupy the entire Black Hills. Because little is known of their habitat requirements and the effects of forest management practices on this important game species, macrohabitat selections patterns of Merriam'...

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources — This theme shows the USFS national forest boundaries in the state. This data was acquired from the GIS coordinators at both the Chippewa National Forest and the...

The syntactic parsing algorithm of weak precedence forest grammar has been introduced and the correctness and unambiguity of this algorithm have been proved. An example is given to the syntactic parsing procedure of weak precedence forest grammar.

Full text: We review recent progress that sheds light on the internal structure of general black holes. We first summarize properties of general multi-charged rotating black holes both in four and five dimensions. We show that the asymptotic boundary conditions of these general asymptotically flat black holes can be modified such that a conformal symmetry emerges. These subtracted geometries preserve the thermodynamic properties of the original black holes and are of the Lifshitz type, thus describing 'a black hole in the asymptotically conical box'. Recent efforts employ solution generating techniques to construct interpolating geometries between the original black hole and their subtracted geometries. Upon lift to one dimension higher, these geometries lift to AdS 3 times a sphere, and thus provide a microscopic interpretation of the black hole entropy in terms of dual two-dimensional conformal field theory. (author)

The first full annual inventory of West Virginia's forests reports 12.0 million acres of forest land or 78 percent of the State's land area. The area of forest land has changed little since 2000. Of this land, 7.2 million acres (60 percent) are held by family forest owners. The current growing-stock inventory is 25 billion cubic feet--12 percent more than in...

Full Text Available Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, a review on factors that control water cycle and water use in Mediterranean forest ecosystems is presented, including environmental variables and silvicultural treatments. This important issue is considered in the perspective of sustainable forest management of Mediterranean forests, with special regard to crucial environmental hazards such as forest fires and desertification risks related to climate change.

The second annual inventory of Maine's forests was completed in 2008 after more than 3,160 forested plots were measured. Forest land occupies almost 17.7 million acres, which represents 82 percent of the total land area of Maine. The dominant forest-type groups are maple/beech/yellow birch, spruce/fir, white/red/jack pine, and aspen/white birch. Statewide volume...

The third full annual inventory of Iowa's forests (2009-2013) indicates that just under 3 million acres of forest land exists in the State, 81 percent of which is in family forest ownership. Almost all of Iowa's forest land is timberland (96 percent), with an average volume of more than 1,000 cubic feet of growing stock per acre on timberland and more than 1,...

One of the serious problems Indonesia is facing today is deforestation. Forests have been playing a very important role in Indonesia as the main natural resources for the economic growth of the country. Large areas of tropical forests, worldwide

In backgrounds with compact dimensions there may exist several phases of black objects including a black hole and a black string. The phase transition between them raises questions and touches on fundamental issues such as topology change, uniqueness, and cosmic censorship. No analytic solution is known for the black hole, and moreover one can expect approximate solutions only for very small black holes, while phase transition physics happens when the black hole is large. Hence we turn to numerical solutions. Here some theoretical background to the numerical analysis is given, while the results will appear in a subsequent paper. The goals for a numerical analysis are set. The scalar charge and tension along the compact dimension are defined and used as improved order parameters which put both the black hole and the black string at finite values on the phase diagram. The predictions for small black holes are presented. The differential and the integrated forms of the first law are derived, and the latter (Smarr's formula) can be used to estimate the 'overall numerical error'. Field asymptotics and expressions for physical quantities in terms of the numerical values are supplied. The techniques include the 'method of equivalent charges', free energy, dimensional reduction, and analytic perturbation for small black holes

Black-hole astrophysics is not just the investigation of yet another, even if extremely remarkable type of celestial body, but a test of the correctness of the understanding of the very properties of space and time in very strong gravitational fields. Physicists` excitement at this new prospect for testing theories of fundamental processes is matched by that of astronomers at the possibility to discover and study a new and dramatically different kind of astronomical object. Here the authors review the currently known ways that black holes can be identified by their effects on their neighborhood--since, of course, the hole itself does not yield any direct evidence of its existence or information about its properties. The two most important empirical considerations are determination of masses, or lower limits thereof, of unseen companions in binary star systems, and measurement of luminosity fluctuations on very short time scales.

Our modern understanding of space, time, matter, and even reality itself arose from the three great revolutions of the early twentieth century: special relativity, general relativity, and quantum mechanics. But a century later, this work is unfinished. Many deep connections have been discovered, but the full form of a unified theory incorporating all three principles is not known. Thought experiments and paradoxes have often played a key role in figuring out how to fit theories together. For the unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics, black holes have been an important arena. I will talk about the quantum mechanics of black holes, the information paradox, and the latest version of this paradox, the firewall. The firewall points to a conflict between our current theories of spacetime and of quantum mechanics. It may lead to a new understanding of how these are connected, perhaps based on quantum entanglement.

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Connecticut based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of this report...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Connecticut based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of this report...

This report provides an overview of forest resources in Connecticut based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design. Results are for the measurement years 2010-2015 with comparisons made to 2005-...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Vermont based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information regarding past inventory reports...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Virginia based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Southern Research Station in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Forestry.

This resource update provides an overview of forest resource attributes for the Commonwealth of Kentucky based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program at the Southern Research Station of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry....

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Alabama based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Southern Research Station in cooperation with the Alabama Forestry Commission. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and are updated yearly....

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Wisconsin based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Data estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and...

This resource update provides an overview of the forest resources in Pennsylvania based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and are updated yearly (see footnote 1 on page 4). Information about...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of...

This resource update provides an overview of the forest resources in Pennsylvania based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station (NRS). Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and are updated yearly1(see footnote 1, page 2). Information...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information, please refer to page 6 of...

This publication provides an overview of the forest resources in Pennsylvania based upon inventories conducted by the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. Information about the national and regional FIA program is available online at http://fia.fs.fed.us. Since 1999, FIA has implemented an annual inventory...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Kansas based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. For annual inventory years 2001-2013, the sample length was equal to 5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed to 7 years. For the 2015 inventory,...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Iowa based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and are updated...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Nebraska based on annual inventories conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the Northern Research Station (NRS), U.S. Forest Service. The estimates presented in this update are based on field data collected in 2010-2014 with comparisons made to data collected from 2005-...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Kansas based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. For annual inventory years 2001-2013, the sample length was equal to 5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed to 7 years. For the 2016 inventory,...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in Nebraska based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. For annual inventory years 2001-2013, the sample length was equal to 5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed to 7 years. For the 2015 inventory...

The forests of the northern United States support a rich mix of floral and faunal communities that provide inestimable benefits to society. Today's forests face a range of biotic and abiotic stressors, not the least of which may be environmental change. This chapter reviews the compositional traits of presettlement forests and traces the major land use patterns...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Wisconsin based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of this report...

Figure 2 was revised by the author in August 2008. This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Wisconsin based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service from 2002-2006. These estimates, along with associated core tables postedon the Internet, are...

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Wisconsin based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, are updated annually. For more information please refer to page 4 of this report.

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Wisconsin based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information, please refer to page 4 of this report...

For applied mathematicians forest fire models refer mainly to a non-linear dynamic system often used to simulate spread of fire. For forest managers forest fire models may pertain to any of the three phases of fire management: prefire planning (fire risk models), fire suppression (fire behavior models), and postfire evaluation (fire effects and economic models). In...

This book is about the life and work of Stephen Hawking. It traces the development of his theories about the universe and particularly black holes, in a biographical context. Hawking's lecture 'Is the end in sight for theoretical physics' is presented as an appendix. In this, he discusses the possibility of achieving a complete, consistent and unified theory of the physical interactions which would describe all possible observations. (U.K.)

We show that the interaction between spin-polarized current and magnetization dynamics can be used to implement black-hole and white-hole horizons for magnons - the quanta of oscillations in the magnetization direction in magnets. We consider three different systems: easy-plane ferromagnetic metals, isotropic antiferromagnetic metals, and easy-plane magnetic insulators. Based on available experimental data, we estimate that the Hawking temperature can be as large as 1 K. We comment on the imp...

Difficulties with this romantic concept developed, however, when General Faidherbe began to expand French control into the Senegalese hinterland. He was...and his German 45 France in Black Africa friends to gain greater control of the AOF.6 The tragi- comedy ended with the 1942 Allied landings in North...service]). Trinquier’s own stay in Africa was short-lived. Belgian resistance to a French invasion of their turf was fierce. Trinquier’s romantic

The Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is the largest of the three North American species ofAccipiter and is more closely associated with older forests than are the other species. Its reliance on older forests has resulted in concerns about its status, extensive research into its habitat relationships, and litigation. Our objective was to model the spatial patterns of goshawk territories in the Black Hills, South Dakota, to make inferences about the underlying processes. We used a modification of Ripley's K function that accounts for inhomogeneous intensity to determine whether territoriality or habitat determined the spacing of goshawks in the Black Hills, finding that habitat conditions rather than territoriality were the determining factor. A spatial model incorporating basal area of trees in a stand of forest, canopy cover, age of trees >23 cm in diameter, number of trees per hectare, and geographic coordinates provided good fit to the spatial patterns of territories. There was no indication of repulsion at close distances that would imply spacing was determined by territoriality. These findings contrast with those for the Kaibab Plateau, Arizona, where territoriality is an important limiting factor. Forest stands where the goshawk nested historically are now younger and have trees of smaller diameter, probably having been modified by logging, fire, and insects. These results have important implications for the goshawk's ecology in the Black Hills with respect to mortality, competition, forest fragmentation, and nest-territory protection.

Full Text Available For the first time the representation of moss litter morphogenetic structure of valley-riverside and streamside spruce forests was determined for the wetland intermountain area of Kuznetsk Alatau. In general, the litter of (green moss-hypnum spruce forest can be characterized as medium thickness (9–17 cm with high storage of organic matter (77–99 t/ha, which differs in neutral environmental conditions pH 6.8–7.0 and high percentage of ash 11–28 %. Formation litter types were identified, which depend on the content of mineral inclusions in organogenic substrate and the degree of its drainage. The differentiation of litter subhorizons was performed, visual diagnostic indicators of fermentative layers were characterized, and additional (indexes to indicate their specificity were developed. Peat- and peaty-fermentative, humified-fermentative and (black mold humus-fermentative layers were selected. Peat- and peaty-fermentative layers are characterized by content of platy peat macroaggregates of coarse vegetable composition, the presence of abundant fungal mycelium and soil animals are the primary decomposers – myriopoda, gastropoda mollusks. Humified-fermentative layers are identified by including the newly formed amorphous humus-like substances, nutty-granular structural parts of humus nature and soil animals’ humificators – enchytraeids and earthworms. (Black mold humus-fermentative layers are diagnosed by indicators with similar humified-fermentative, but differ from them in clay-humus composition of nutty-granular blue-grey parts. The nomenclature and classification of moss litter were developed on the basis of their diagnostic characteristics of fermentative layers – peat, peaty, reduced peaty, (black mold humus-peaty, reduced (black mold humus-peaty. Using the method of discriminant analysis, we revealed that the physical-chemical properties, mainly percentage of ash and decomposition degree of plant substrate, objectively

In this month's European column, Jean-Francois Drevet examines the issues that arise for Europe from the Black Sea region. The Black Sea is increasingly becoming a crucial place of transit for hydrocarbon imports from the Caspian and Russia into the European Union. The considerable increase in this traffic raises both environmental problems (the risk of oil slicks) and issues of security of supply, on account of the economic and political fragility of some of the bordering or neighbouring states (Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia/Chechnya etc.). This is why, as Jean-Francois Drevet stresses, the European Union has been trying since the mid-1990's to claim a role in the management of the affairs of the region. With two bordering states (Rumania and Bulgaria) joining the EU in 2007, cooperation in the Black Sea has become a priority within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, and this column delineates a number of the obstacles that still have to be surmounted. (author)

We present the combination of black silicon texturing and blackened bus-bar strings as a potential method for obtaining all-black solar panels, while using conventional, front-contacted solar cells. Black silicon was realized by maskless reactive ion etching resulting in total, average reflectance...... below 0.5% across a 156x156 mm2 silicon wafer. Four different methods to obtain blackened bus-bar strings were compared with respect to reflectance, and two of these methods (i.e., oxidized copper and etched solder) were used to fabricate functional allblack solar 9-cell panels. The black bus-bars (e.......g., by oxidized copper) have a reflectance below 3% in the entire visible wavelength range. The combination of black silicon cells and blackened bus-bars results in aesthetic, all-black panels based on conventional, front-contacted solar cells without compromising efficiency....

Canada contains 10% of the world's forests covering an area of 418 million hectares. The sustainable management of these forest resources has become increasingly complex. Hyperspectral remote sensing can provide a wealth of new and improved information products to resource managers to make more informed decisions. Research in this area has demonstrated that hyperspectral remote sensing can be used to create more accurate products for forest inventory, forest health, foliar biochemistry, biomass, and aboveground carbon than are currently available. This paper surveys recent methods and results in hyperspectral sensing of forests and describes space initiatives for hyperspectral sensing.

We calculate the black hole mass distribution function that follows from the random emission of quanta by Hawking radiation and with this function we calculate the black hole mass fluctuation. From a complete different perspective we regard the black hole as quantum mechanical system with a quantized event horizon area and transition probabilities among the various energy levels and then calculate the mass dispersion. It turns out that there is a perfect agreement between the statistical and ...

Virtually all assessments of tropical cyclone risk are based on historical records, which are limited to a few hundred years at most. Yet stronger TCs may occur in the future and at places that have not been affected historically. Such events lie outside the realm of historically based expectations and may have extreme impacts. Their occurrences are also often made explainable after the fact (e.g., Hurricane Katrina). We nickname such potential future TCs, characterized by rarity, extreme impact, and retrospective predictability, "black swans" (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007). As, by definition, black swan TCs have yet to happen, statistical methods that solely rely on historical track data cannot predict their occurrence. Global climate models lack the capability to predict intense storms, even with a resolution as high as 14 km (Emanuel et al. 2010). Also, most dynamic downscaling methods (e.g., Bender et al. 2010) are still limited in horizontal resolution and are too expensive to implement to generate enough events to include rare ones. In this study, we apply a simpler statistical/deterministic hurricane model (Emanuel et al. 2006) to simulate large numbers of synthetic storms under a given (observed or projected) climate condition. The method has been shown to generate realistic extremes in various basins (Emanuel et al. 2008 and 2010). We also apply a hydrodynamic model (ADCIRC; Luettich et al. 1992) to simulate the storm surges generated by these storms. We then search for black swan TCs, in terms of the joint wind and surge damage potential, in the generated large databases. Heavy rainfall is another important TC hazard and will be considered in a future study. We focus on three areas: Tampa Bay in the U.S., the Persian Gulf, and Darwin in Australia. Tampa Bay is highly vulnerable to storm surge as it is surrounded by shallow water and low-lying lands, much of which may be inundated by a storm tide of 6 m. High surges are generated by storms with a broad

The nitrogen-fixing tree black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) seems to affect ectomycorrhizal (ECM) colonization and disease severity of Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii Parl.) seedlings. We examined the effect of black locust on the distribution of ECM and pathogenic fungi in soil. DNA was extracted from soil at depths of 0-5 and 5-10 cm, collected from the border between a Japanese black pine- and a black locust-dominated forest, and the distribution of these fungi was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. The effect of soil nutrition and pH on fungal distribution was also examined. Tomentella sp. 1 and Tomentella sp. 2 were not detected from some subplots in the Japanese black pine-dominated forest. Ectomycorrhizas formed by Tomentella spp. were dominant in black locust-dominated subplots and very little in the Japanese black pine-dominated forest. Therefore, the distribution may be influenced by the distribution of inoculum potential, although we could not detect significant relationships between the distribution of Tomentella spp. on pine seedlings and in soils. The other ECM fungi were detected in soils in subplots where the ECM fungi was not detected on pine seedlings, and there was no significant correlation between the distribution of the ECM fungi on pine seedlings and in soils. Therefore, inoculum potential seemed to not always influence the ECM community on roots. The distribution of Lactarius quieticolor and Tomentella sp. 2 in soil at a depth of 0-5 cm positively correlated with soil phosphate (soil P) and that of Tomentella sp. 2 also positively correlated with soil nitrogen (soil N). These results suggest the possibility that the distribution of inoculum potential of the ECM fungi was affected by soil N and soil P. Although the mortality of the pine seedlings was higher in the black locust-dominated area than in the Japanese black pine-dominated area, a pathogenic fungus of pine seedlings, Cylindrocladium pacificum, was

Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) serves as the host plant for the Appalachian azure butterfly, Celastrina neglectamajor. Overharvesting of Black cohosh for the dietary supplement industry may result in its extirpation, and may also cause the elimination of the dependent butterfly. One way to increase or maintain the number of host plants in forested environments would be to reduce the number harvested, for example by increasing the levels of the desired metabolites in Black cohosh rhizomes. The secondary metabolites actein and deoxyactein are triterpene glycosides and are among the compounds associated with the putative activity of Black cohosh extracts. Acetein and deoxyacetein are used to standardize Black cohosh supplements. To gain an understanding of mechanisms that may control actein and deoxyactein accumulation, Black cohosh rhizomes were treated with exogenous salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, or ethylene, or were mechanically wounded. Salicylic acid treatment significantly increased the levels of actein and deoxyactein in the rhizome of Black cohosh, suggesting that the synthesis of triterpene glycosides is controlled in part by salicylic acid. Using salicylic acid or related chemicals to increase the levels of actein and deoxyactein in rhizomes may help supply the supplement industry and, simultaneously, help conserve Black cohosh and species dependent upon it.

A forested wetland (swamp) is a forest where soils are saturated or flooded for at least a portion of the growing season, and vegetation, dominated by trees, is adapted to tolerate flooded conditions. A tidal freshwater forested wetland is a forested wetland that experiences frequent but short-term surface flooding via tidal action, with average salinity of soil porewater less than 0.5 g/l. It is known locally as tidal várzea in the Amazon delta, Brazil. A tidal saltwater forested wetland (mangrove forest) is a forested wetland that experiences frequent but short-term surface flooding via tidal action, with average salinity often exceeding 3 g/l and reaching levels that can exceed seawater. Mangrove ecosystems are composed of facultative halophytes that generally experience better growth at moderate salinity concentrations.

The relationship between human beings and forests has been important for the development of society. It is based on various productive, ecological, social and cultural functions of forests. The cultural functions, including the spiritual and symbolic role of forests, are often not addressed...... with the same attention as the other functions. The aim of this paper is to put a stronger emphasis on the fact that the acknowledgement of cultural bonds is needed in the discussion of sustainable development. Forest should not only be considered as a technical means to solve environmental and economic...... problems. To achieve a deeper understanding of the dependency of society on forests, it is necessary to recognise the role of forests in our consciousness of being human. Giving a historical overview about the cultural bonds between people and forests, the first part of the paper puts focus on non...

Forest litter, a good source of organic matter and seeds, was applied on undisturbed soil and on coal mine (spoils) in experiments conducted on the Black Mesa Coal Mine near Kayenta, Arizona over a 2-year period (1977-1978). Germination, seedling establishment, plant height and ground cover were evaluated for two seeding treatments (forest litter and no forest litter) and two soil moisture treatments (natural rainfall and natural rainfall plus irrigation). The forest litter was obtained at random from the Coconino National Forest, broadcast over the surface of the soil materials and incorporated into the surface 5 cm of each soil material. Germination, seedling establishment, plant height and ground cover on undisturbed soil and coal mine soil were higher when forest litter was applied than when it was not applied and when natural rainfall was supplemented with sprinkler irrigation than when rainfall was not supplemented with irrigation. Applications of forest litter and supplemental irrigation may ensure successful establishment of vegetation on areas disturbed by open-pit coal mining.

A strict definition of black holes is presented and some properties with regard to their mass are enumerated. The Hawking quantum effect - the effect of vacuum instability in the black hole gravitational field, as a result of shich the black hole radiates as a heated body is analyzed. It is shown that in order to obtain results on the black hole radiation it is sufficient to predetermine the in-vacuum state at a time moment in the past, when the collapsing body has a large size, and its gravitational field can be neglected. The causes and the place of particle production by the black hole, and also the space-time inside the black hole, are considered

In the classical theory black holes can only absorb and not emit particles. However it is shown that quantum mechanical effects cause black holes to create and emit particles. This thermal emission leads to a slow decrease in the mass of the black hole and to its eventual disappearance: any primordial black hole of mass less than about 10 15 g would have evaporated by now. Although these quantum effects violate the classical law that the area of the event horizon of a black hole cannot decrease, there remains a Generalized Second Law: S + 1/4 A never decreases where S is the entropy of matter outside black holes and A is the sum of the surface areas of the event horizons. This shows that gravitational collapse converts the baryons and leptons in the collapsing body into entropy. It is tempting to speculate that this might be the reason why the Universe contains so much entropy per baryon. (orig.) [de

According to the standard view classically black holes carry no hair, whereas quantum hair is at best exponentially weak. We show that suppression of hair is an artifact of the semi-classical treatment and that in the quantum picture hair appears as an inverse mass-square effect. Such hair is predicted in the microscopic quantum description in which a black hole represents a self-sustained leaky Bose-condensate of N soft gravitons. In this picture the Hawking radiation is the quantum depletion of the condensate. Within this picture we show that quantum black hole physics is fully compatible with continuous global symmetries and that global hair appears with the strength B/N, where B is the global charge swallowed by the black hole. For large charge this hair has dramatic effect on black hole dynamics. Our findings can have interesting astrophysical consequences, such as existence of black holes with large detectable baryonic and leptonic numbers.

Recently, Zhang slightly modified the standard big bang theory and developed a new cosmological model called black hole universe, which is consistent with Mach's principle, governed by Einstein's general theory of relativity, and able to explain all observations of the universe. Previous studies accounted for the origin, structure, evolution, expansion, and cosmic microwave background radiation of the black hole universe, which grew from a star-like black hole with several solar masses through a supermassive black hole with billions of solar masses to the present state with hundred billion-trillions of solar masses by accreting ambient matter and merging with other black holes. This paper investigates acceleration of the black hole universe and provides an alternative explanation for the redshift and luminosity distance measurements of type Ia supernovae. The results indicate that the black hole universe accelerates its expansion when it accretes the ambient matter in an increasing rate. In other words, i.e., when the second-order derivative of the mass of the black hole universe with respect to the time is positive . For a constant deceleration parameter , we can perfectly explain the type Ia supernova measurements with the reduced chi-square to be very close to unity, χ red˜1.0012. The expansion and acceleration of black hole universe are driven by external energy.

A study of the high angular momentum particles 'atmosphere' near the Schwarzschild black hole horizon suggested that strong gravitational interactions occur at invariant distance of the order of 3 √M [2]. We present a generalization of this result to the Kerr-Newman black hole case. It is shown that the larger charge and angular momentum black hole bears, the larger invariant distance at which strong gravitational interactions occur becomes. This invariant distance is of order 3 √((r + 2 )/((r + - r - ))). This implies that the Planckian structure of the Hawking radiation of extreme black holes is completely broken

Vacuum bubbles may nucleate and expand during the inflationary epoch in the early universe. After inflation ends, the bubbles quickly dissipate their kinetic energy; they come to rest with respect to the Hubble flow and eventually form black holes. The fate of the bubble itself depends on the resulting black hole mass. If the mass is smaller than a certain critical value, the bubble collapses to a singularity. Otherwise, the bubble interior inflates, forming a baby universe, which is connected to the exterior FRW region by a wormhole. A similar black hole formation mechanism operates for spherical domain walls nucleating during inflation. As an illustrative example, we studied the black hole mass spectrum in the domain wall scenario, assuming that domain walls interact with matter only gravitationally. Our results indicate that, depending on the model parameters, black holes produced in this scenario can have significant astrophysical effects and can even serve as dark matter or as seeds for supermassive black holes. The mechanism of black hole formation described in this paper is very generic and has important implications for the global structure of the universe. Baby universes inside super-critical black holes inflate eternally and nucleate bubbles of all vacua allowed by the underlying particle physics. The resulting multiverse has a very non-trivial spacetime structure, with a multitude of eternally inflating regions connected by wormholes. If a black hole population with the predicted mass spectrum is discovered, it could be regarded as evidence for inflation and for the existence of a multiverse

Vacuum bubbles may nucleate and expand during the inflationary epoch in the early universe. After inflation ends, the bubbles quickly dissipate their kinetic energy; they come to rest with respect to the Hubble flow and eventually form black holes. The fate of the bubble itself depends on the resulting black hole mass. If the mass is smaller than a certain critical value, the bubble collapses to a singularity. Otherwise, the bubble interior inflates, forming a baby universe, which is connected to the exterior FRW region by a wormhole. A similar black hole formation mechanism operates for spherical domain walls nucleating during inflation. As an illustrative example, we studied the black hole mass spectrum in the domain wall scenario, assuming that domain walls interact with matter only gravitationally. Our results indicate that, depending on the model parameters, black holes produced in this scenario can have significant astrophysical effects and can even serve as dark matter or as seeds for supermassive black holes. The mechanism of black hole formation described in this paper is very generic and has important implications for the global structure of the universe. Baby universes inside super-critical black holes inflate eternally and nucleate bubbles of all vacua allowed by the underlying particle physics. The resulting multiverse has a very non-trivial spacetime structure, with a multitude of eternally inflating regions connected by wormholes. If a black hole population with the predicted mass spectrum is discovered, it could be regarded as evidence for inflation and for the existence of a multiverse.

In 1984, the Black Report published its results on the incidence of cancer and leukaemia in under 25-year olds in the village of Seascale and the surrounding area near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant. Since then the pressure group core, as a result of their own independent research, has discovered ten additional cases of childhood cancer which should have been included in the Black Report and a Further two cases since the Black Report was written. This represents an additional 31% over the initial numbers considered and a review of the Black Report is sought. (UK)

The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy for certain BPS-saturated black holes in string theory has recently been derived by counting internal black hole microstates at weak coupling. We argue that the black hole microstate can be measured by interference experiments even in the strong coupling region where there is clearly an event horizon. Extracting information which is naively behind the event horizon is possible due to the existence of statistical quantum hair carried by the black hole. This quantum hair arises from the arbitrarily large number of discrete gauge symmetries present in string theory. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

We address a long-standing problem of describing the thermodynamics of an accelerating black hole. We derive a standard first law of black hole thermodynamics, with the usual identification of entropy proportional to the area of the event horizon-even though the event horizon contains a conical singularity. This result not only extends the applicability of black hole thermodynamics to realms previously not anticipated, it also opens a possibility for studying novel properties of an important class of exact radiative solutions of Einstein equations describing accelerated objects. We discuss the thermodynamic volume, stability, and phase structure of these black holes.

Full Text Available Effective planning to optimize the forest value chain requires accurate and detailed information about the resource; however, estimates of the distribution of fibre properties on the landscape are largely unavailable prior to harvest. Our objective was to fit a model of the tree-level average fibre length related to ecosite classification and other forest inventory variables depicted at the landscape scale. A series of black spruce increment cores were collected at breast height from trees in nine different ecosite groups within the boreal forest of northeastern Ontario, and processed using standard techniques for maceration and fibre length measurement. Regression tree analysis and random forests were used to fit hierarchical classification models and find the most important predictor variables for the response variable area-weighted mean stem-level fibre length. Ecosite group was the best predictor in the regression tree. Longer mean fibre-length was associated with more productive ecosites that supported faster growth. The explanatory power of the model of fitted data was good; however, random forests simulations indicated poor generalizability. These results suggest the potential to develop localized models linking wood fibre length in black spruce to landscape-level attributes, and improve the sustainability of forest management by identifying ideal locations to harvest wood that has desirable fibre characteristics.

The rate of land-use conversion from forest to nonforest or natural forest to forest plantation is of interest for forest certification purposes and also as part of the process of assessing forest sustainability. Conversion rates can be estimated from remeasured inventory plots in general, but the emphasis here is on annual inventory data. A new estimator is proposed...

As part of a National Forest System cooperative inventory, the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IWFIA) Program of the USDA Forest Service conducted a forest resource inventory on the Nez Perce National Forest using a nationally standardized mapped-plot design (for more details see the section "Inventory methods"). This report presents highlights...

Microbial degradation of carbon derived from black shale and slate has been shown in vitro. However, in natural settings where other labile carbon sources are likely to exist, this has not been previously demonstrated. We investigated the uptake of ancient carbon derived from slate weathering and from recently photosynthesised organic matter by different groups of microorganisms. Therefore we isolated microbial biomarkers (phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs) from black slates collected at a chronosequence of waste piles which differed in age and vegetation cover. We quantified the amount of PLFAs and performed stable isotope and radiocarbon measurements on individual or grouped PLFAs to quantify the fraction of slate derived carbon. We used black slate from a pile heaped in the 1950s with either uncovered black slate material (bare site) or material slightly colonized by small plants (greened site) and from a forested leaching pile (forested site) used for alum-mining in the 19th century. Colonization by plants influenced the amount and composition of the microbial community. Greater amounts of PLFAs (5410 ng PLFA/g dw) were extracted from slate sampled at the forested site as opposed to the bare site (960 ng PLFAs/g dw) or the greened (annual grasses and mosses) rock waste pile (1050 ng PLFAs/g dw). We found the highest proportion of PLFAs representing Gram-negative bacteria on the forested site and the highest proportion of PLFAs representing Gram-positive bacteria on the bare site. The fungal PLFA was most abundant at the greened site. Sites with less plant colonization (bare and greened site) tended to have more depleted δ13C values compared to the forested site. Radiocarbon measurements on PLFAs indicated that fungi and Gram-positive bacteria were best adapted to black slate carbon uptake. In the fungal PLFA (combined bare and greened waste pile sample) and in PLFAs of Gram-positive bacteria (greened site) we measured 39.7% and 28.9% ancient carbon uptake

Characteristics of eastward drifting forms, previously described in the literature as black aurorae, have been identified in low-light level TV camera data. The TV field of view was within the field of view of STARE and that of an all-sky camera. On the basis of these observations the authors propose that these auroral forms are a manifestation of folds or waves on the borders of auroral bands propagating along the dark regions between neighboring auroral bands. Conditions under which the folds or waves occur are compatible with their formation by the Kelvin-Helmholtz electrostatic instability

Coal workers` pneumoconiosis (CWP), often called Black Lung Disease is a occupational disease which results from inhalation of coal mine dust which usually contains small amounts of free crystalline silica. This chapter reviews the current knowledge of the epidemiology and clinical aspects of CWP and how it has been controlled in the USA through the 1969 Coal Mine Act and dust level standards. It describes the sampling methods used. Medical control methods and engineering control of the disease is discussed. Work of the Generic Mineral Technology Center for Respirable Dust is described. 28 refs., 6 figs.

Physicists are pondering on the possibility of simulating black holes in the laboratory by means of various "analog models". These analog models, typically based on condensed matter physics, can be used to help us understand general relativity (Einstein's gravity); conversely, abstract techniques developed in general relativity can sometimes be used to help us understand certain aspects of condensed matter physics. This book contains 13 chapters - written by experts in general relativity, particle physics, and condensed matter physics - that explore various aspects of this two-way traffic.

Full Text Available We review some features of Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC models of black holes obtained by means of the horizon wave function formalism. We consider the Klein–Gordon equation for a toy graviton field coupled to a static matter current in a spherically-symmetric setup. The classical field reproduces the Newtonian potential generated by the matter source, while the corresponding quantum state is given by a coherent superposition of scalar modes with a continuous occupation number. An attractive self-interaction is needed for bound states to form, the case in which one finds that (approximately one mode is allowed, and the system of N bosons can be self-confined in a volume of the size of the Schwarzschild radius. The horizon wave function formalism is then used to show that the radius of such a system corresponds to a proper horizon. The uncertainty in the size of the horizon is related to the typical energy of Hawking modes: it decreases with the increasing of the black hole mass (larger number of gravitons, resulting in agreement with the semiclassical calculations and which does not hold for a single very massive particle. The spectrum of these systems has two components: a discrete ground state of energy m (the bosons forming the black hole and a continuous spectrum with energy ω > m (representing the Hawking radiation and modeled with a Planckian distribution at the expected Hawking temperature. Assuming the main effect of the internal scatterings is the Hawking radiation, the N-particle state can be collectively described by a single-particle wave-function given by a superposition of a total ground state with energy M = Nm and Entropy 2015, 17 6894 a Planckian distribution for E > M at the same Hawking temperature. This can be used to compute the partition function and to find the usual area law for the entropy, with a logarithmic correction related to the Hawking component. The backreaction of modes with ω > m is also shown to reduce

We show that the interaction between the spin-polarized current and the magnetization dynamics can be used to implement black-hole and white-hole horizons for magnons-the quanta of oscillations in the magnetization direction in magnets. We consider three different systems: easy-plane ferromagnetic metals, isotropic antiferromagnetic metals, and easy-plane magnetic insulators. Based on available experimental data, we estimate that the Hawking temperature can be as large as 1 K. We comment on the implications of magnonic horizons for spin-wave scattering and transport experiments, and for magnon entanglement.

Mangroves are highly productive ecosystems that provide valued habitat for fish and shorebirds. Mangrove forests are universally composed of relatively few tree species and a single overstory strata. Three species of true mangroves are common to intertidal zones of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico Coast, namely, black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle). Mangrove forests occupy intertidal settings of the coastal margin of the Everglades along the southwest tip of the Florida peninsula (fig. 1).

Black American and Nigerian Pentecostalism: A Black Religious Schizophrenia, 1910-2010. ... in American and African Pentecostalism as is related to social crisis, the dislocation of masses brought on by economic deprivation, urbanization, the break up of traditional society and consequence loss of traditional values.

Recent studies have used increasingly complex methodologies to estimate the effect of peer characteristics--race, poverty, and ability--on student achievement. A paper by Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin using Texas state testing data has received particularly wide attention because it found a large negative effect of school percent black on black math…

Defines and illustrates language techniques used by Black authors writing to and for Blacks in the 1960s and 1970s. Suggests how language and theme barriers of such literature might be overcome in a contemporary integrated oral interpretation classroom. (PD)

The tropical montane forests in the Colombian Andean region are located above 1500 m, and have been heavily deforested. Despite the general presumption that productivity and hence carbon stocks in these ecosystems are low, studies in this regard are scarce. This study aimed to (i) to estimate Above Ground Biomass (AGB) in forests located in the South of the Colombian Andean region, (ii) to identify the carbon storage potential of tropical montane forests dominated by the black oak Colombobalanus excelsa and to identify the relationship between AGB and altitude, and (iii) to analyze the role of tropical mountain forests in conservation mechanisms such as Payment for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). Twenty six 0.25 ha plots were randomly distributed in the forests and all trees with D > or =10 cm were measured. The results provided important elements for understanding the role of tropical montane forests as carbon sinks. The information produced can be used in subnational initiatives, which seek to mitigate or reduce the effects of deforestation through management or conservation of these ecosystems, like REDD+ or PES. The AGB and carbon stocks results obtained were similar to those reported for lowland tropical forests. These could be explained by the dominance and abundance of C. excelsa, which accounted for over 81% of AGB/carbon. The error associated with the estimates of AGB/carbon was 10.58%. We found a negative and significant relationship between AGB and altitude, but the higher AGB values were in middle altitudes (approximatly = 700-1800 m), where the environmental conditions could be favorable to their growth. The carbon storage potential of these forests was higher. However, if the historical rate of the deforestation in the study area continues, the gross emissions of CO2e to the atmosphere could turn these forests in to an important emissions source. Nowadays, it is clear that tropical

This forest condition report of Hesse (Germany) includes the following topics: forest condition survey for all tree species, forest in the in the Rhine-Main area, weather and climate, soil water balance and drought stress, insects and fungi, Forestry Environment Monitoring, infiltrated substances, main results of Forest soil survey in Hesse (BZE II), the substrate group red sandstone, heavy metal contamination of forests.

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Forest Resource Coordinating Committee AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of meeting; Correction. SUMMARY: The Forest Service published a document in the Federal Register of January 31, 2013, concering a notice of meeting for the Forest Resource...

This resource update provides an overview of forest resources in east Texas based on an inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Southern Research Station in cooperation with the Texas A&M Forest Service. Forest resource estimates are based on field data collected using the FIA annualized sample design and...

Forest health is an increasingly important concept in natural resource management. However, definition of forest health is difficult and dependent on human perspective. From a utilitarian perspective, forest health has been defined by the production of forest conditions which directly satisfy human needs. From an ecosystem-centered perspective, forest health has been...

As early as 1902, Gibbs pointed out that systems whose partition function diverges, e.g. gravitation, lie outside the validity of the Boltzmann-Gibbs (BG) theory. Consistently, since the pioneering Bekenstein-Hawking results, physically meaningful evidence (e.g., the holographic principle) has accumulated that the BG entropy S BG of a (3+1) black hole is proportional to its area L 2 (L being a characteristic linear length), and not to its volume L 3 . Similarly it exists the area law, so named because, for a wide class of strongly quantum-entangled d-dimensional systems, S BG is proportional to lnL if d=1, and to L d-1 if d>1, instead of being proportional to L d (d ≥ 1). These results violate the extensivity of the thermodynamical entropy of a d-dimensional system. This thermodynamical inconsistency disappears if we realize that the thermodynamical entropy of such nonstandard systems is not to be identified with the BG additive entropy but with appropriately generalized nonadditive entropies. Indeed, the celebrated usefulness of the BG entropy is founded on hypothesis such as relatively weak probabilistic correlations (and their connections to ergodicity, which by no means can be assumed as a general rule of nature). Here we introduce a generalized entropy which, for the Schwarzschild black hole and the area law, can solve the thermodynamic puzzle. (orig.)

The idea of holography in gravity arose from the fact that the entropy of black holes is given by their surface area. The holography encountered in gauge/gravity duality has no such relation however; the boundary surface can be placed at an arbitrary location in AdS space and its area does not give the entropy of the bulk. The essential issues are also different between the two cases: in black holes we get Hawking radiation from the 'holographic surface' which leads to the information issue, while in gauge/gravity duality there is no such radiation. To resolve the information paradox we need to show that there are real degrees of freedom at the horizon of the hole; this is achieved by the fuzzball construction. In gauge/gravity duality we have instead a field theory defined on an abstract dual space; there are no gravitational degrees of freedom at the holographic boundary. It is important to understand the relations and differences between these two notions of holography to get a full understanding of the lessons from the information paradox.

, and though rarely documented, beach nesting could be affected by terrestrial management actions. There are various nonnative or invasive species throughout the terrestrial ecosystem. The most notable examples of terrestrial invasive species include coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) and black rats (Rattus rattus). Although it is unclear whether they are nonnative, coconut palms are currently the most dominant plant across Palmyra Atoll. They compete with native plant species for space and resources and are potentially detrimental to sea birds dependent on native vegetation for roosting and nesting habitat. This competition in turn impacts nutrient resource availability, thereby reshaping energy flow in the ecosystem. Black rats are known to prey on ground-nesting sea birds and are likely responsible for the lack of burrowing sea bird reproduction at Palmyra Atoll. In addition, they may be facilitating the invasion of other nonnative species and negatively impacting other native fauna. Although the extent and impacts of these and other nonnative and (or) invasive species are not fully understood, the extent and impacts are clearly a threat to the native species and one of the most urgent threats to the overall ecosystem integrity of Palmyra Atoll. This 'Terrestrial Forest Management Plan for Palmyra Atoll' addresses issues related to invasive species and other problems. Priority goals are established as are associated objectives and strategies. The overarching goal is to perpetuate and where possible restore terrestrial ecosystem integrity through the following techniques: 1. Habitat management: Maintain and enhance habitat to the extent possible to sustain thriving Pisonia grandis forest, coastal strand forest, endemic grassland, self-sustaining populations of sea birds, shore birds, coconut crabs, native lizards, and native insects. 2. Monitoring and assessment: Acquire information on distribution and abundance as needed for conservation of each resour

Full Text Available Forest fragmentation and habitat loss may disrupt the movement or dispersal of forest-dwelling birds. Despite much interest in the severity of these effects and ways of mitigating them, little is known about actual movement patterns in different habitat types. We studied the movement of wintering resident birds, lured by playbacks of mobbing calls, to compare the willingness of forest birds to travel various distances in continuous forest, along narrow corridors (fencerows, and across gaps in forest cover. We also quantified the willingness of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus to cross gaps when alternative forested detour routes were available. All species were less likely to respond to the calls as distance increased to 200 m, although White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis and Hairy Woodpeckers (Picoides villosus were generally less likely to respond than chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers (P. pubescens. Chickadees were as likely to travel in corridors as in continuous forest, but were less likely to cross gaps as the gap distance increased. The other species were less willing to travel in corridors and gaps relative to forest, and the differences among habitats also increased with distance. For chickadees, gap-crossing decisions in the presence of forested detours varied over the range of distances that we tested, and were primarily influenced by detour efficiency (the length of the shortcut relative to the available detour. Over short distances, birds used forested detours, regardless of their efficiency. As absolute distances increased, birds tended to employ larger shortcuts in the open when detour efficiency was low or initial distance in the open was high, but they limited their distance from the nearest forest edge to 25 m. Thus, chickadees were unwilling to cross gaps of > 50 m when they had forested alternatives, yet they sometimes crossed gaps as large as 200 m when no such choice existed. Our results suggest that

Space is not a boring static stage on which events unfold over time, but a dynamic entity with curvature, fluctuations, and a rich life of its own. Spectacular measurements of the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing, type Ia supernovae, large-scale structure, spectra of the Lyman alpha forest, stellar dynamics, and x-ray binaries are probing the properties of spacetime over 22 orders of magnitude in scale. Current measurements are consistent with an infinite flat everlasting universe containing about 30% cold dark matter, 65% dark energy, and at least two distinct populations of black holes.

Over the past 20 years, Participatory Forest Management (PFM) has become a dominant forest management strategy in Tanzania, covering more than 4.1 million hectares. Sustainable forest use and supply of wood products to local people are major aims of PFM. This paper assesses the sustainability...... of forest utilisation under PFM, using estimates of forest condition and extraction rates based on forest inventories and 480 household surveys from 12 forests; seven under Community Based Forest Management (CBFM), three under Joint Forest Management (JFM) and two under government management (non......-PFM). Extraction of products is intense in forests close to Dar es Salaam, regardless of management regime. Further from Dar es Salaam, harvesting levels in forests under PFM are, with one prominent exception, broadly sustainable. Using GIS data from 116 wards, it is shown that half of the PFM forests in Tanzania...

The third full cycle of annual inventories (2009-2013) of Missouri's forests, completed in 2013, reports that there are an estimated 15.5 million acres of forest land in the State. An estimated 60 percent of the forest land area is in sawtimber size stands, 30 percent are pole timber size, and 10 percent are seedling/sapling size or nontstocked. The net volume of...

The third 5-year annualized inventory of Maine's forests was completed in 2013 after more than 3170 forested plots were measured. Maine contains more than 17.6 million acres of forest land, an area that has been quite stable since 1960, covering more than 82 percent of the total land area. The number of live trees greater than 1 inch in diameter are approaching 24...

This report summarizes the third cycle of annualized inventory of Pennsylvania with field data collected from 2009 through 2014. Pennsylvania has 16.9 million acres of forest land dominated by sawtimber stands of oak/hickory and maple/beech/birch forest-type groups. Volumes continue to increase as the forests age with an average of 2,244 cubic feet per acre on...

Deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics have been receiving both scientific and political attention in recent decades due to its impacts on the environment and on human livelihoods. In Ghana, the continuous decline of forest resources and the high demand for timber have raised stakeholders concerns about the future timber production prospects in the country. The principal drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana are agricultural expansion (50%), wood harvesting (35...

Forest land area in the Commonwealth of Kentucky amounted to 11.97 million acres, including 11.6 million acres of timberland. Over 110 different species, mostly hardwoods, account for an estimated 21.2 billion cubic feet of all live tree volume. Hardwood forest types occupy 85 percent of Kentuckyâs timberland, and oak-hickory is the dominant forest-type group...

Traditional methods from statistical thermodynamics, with appropriate modifications, are used to study several problems in black-hole thermodynamics. Jaynes's maximum-uncertainty method for computing probabilities is used to show that the earlier-formulated generalized second law is respected in statistically averaged form in the process of spontaneous radiation by a Kerr black hole discovered by Hawking, and also in the case of a Schwarzschild hole immersed in a bath of black-body radiation, however cold. The generalized second law is used to motivate a maximum-entropy principle for determining the equilibrium probability distribution for a system containing a black hole. As an application we derive the distribution for the radiation in equilibrium with a Kerr hole (it is found to agree with what would be expected from Hawking's results) and the form of the associated distribution among Kerr black-hole solution states of definite mass. The same results are shown to follow from a statistical interpretation of the concept of black-hole entropy as the natural logarithm of the number of possible interior configurations that are compatible with the given exterior black-hole state. We also formulate a Jaynes-type maximum-uncertainty principle for black holes, and apply it to obtain the probability distribution among Kerr solution states for an isolated radiating Kerr hole

An introduction to Radical Teacher, Issue 106: Teaching Black Lives Matter. This issue brings together a diverse collection of articles exploring educator’s responses, strategies, and stories on how #BlackLivesMatter has informed their teaching practice, the content of their courses, and their personal relationship to colleagues, family, friends, and self.

Full Text Available An introduction to Radical Teacher, Issue 106: Teaching Black Lives Matter. This issue brings together a diverse collection of articles exploring educator’s responses, strategies, and stories on how #BlackLivesMatter has informed their teaching practice, the content of their courses, and their personal relationship to colleagues, family, friends, and self.

This article is a reflection on the teaching of black history after the Obama presidency and at the dawn of the Trump era. It is both an analysis of the state of the academic field and a primer on how to integrate the past few decades of scholarship in black history broadly across standard K-12 curriculum. It demonstrates the importance of…

The applicability and apparent uncertainties of the techniques currently available for measuring or estimating black-hole masses in AGNs are briefly summarized.......The applicability and apparent uncertainties of the techniques currently available for measuring or estimating black-hole masses in AGNs are briefly summarized....

Seven papers commissioned by the National Institute of Education in order to clarify the state of recent knowledge about the effects of school desegregation on the academic achievement of black students are contained in this report. The papers, which analyze 19 "core" empirical studies on this topic, include: (1) "What Have Black Children Gained…

The simulated collision event shown is viewed along the beampipe. The event is one in which a microscopic-black-hole was produced in the collision of two protons (not shown). The microscopic-black-hole decayed immediately into many particles. The colors of the tracks show different types of particles emerging from the collision (at the center).

Abstract. A Kerr metric describing a rotating black hole is obtained on the three brane in a five-dimensional Randall-Sundrum brane world by considering a rotating five-dimensional black string in the bulk. We examine the causal structure of this space-time through the geodesic equations.

The latest achievements in the physics of black holes are reviewed. The problem of quantum production in a strong gravitational field of black holes is considered. Another parallel discovered during investigation of interactions between black holes and between black holes and surrounding media, is also drawn with thermodynamics. A gravitational field of rotating black holes is considered. Some cosmological aspects of evaporation of small black holes are discussed as well as possibilities to observe them

We show that a formalism for analyzing the near-horizon conformal symmetry of Schwarzschild black holes using a scalar field probe is capable of describing black hole decay. The equation governing black hole decay can be identified as the geodesic equation in the space of black hole masses. This provides a novel geometric interpretation for the decay of black holes. Moreover, this approach predicts a precise correction term to the usual expression for the decay rate of black holes

Polands once considerable forest resource suffered destruction during World War II and is now a victim of the legacy of past forest practices, the toxic effects of industrial pollution, and the urgent needs of its people today. Polish forest are threatened by a variety of abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors. Extremes of climate and declining groundwater tables add to the problem. Pollution is the most serious problem, particularly air pollution. Much of the air pollution in Poland is attributable to mining and burning high-sulfur coal. Besides describing the causes of the forest decline, this article discusses solutions

The potential influence of diversity on ecosystem structure and function remains a topic of significant debate, especially for tropical forests where diversity can range widely. We used Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) methodology to establish forest dynamics plots in montane wet forest and lowland dry forest on Hawaiâi Island. We compared the species...

Black holes have piqued much curiosity. But thus far they have been important only in ''remote'' subjects like astrophysics and quantum gravity. It is shown that the situation can be improved. By a judicious application of black hole physics, one can obtain new results in ''everyday physics''. For example, black holes yield a quantum universal upper bound on the entropy-to-energy ratio for ordinary thermodynamical systems which was unknown earlier. It can be checked, albeit with much labor, by ordinary statistical methods. Black holes set a limitation on the number of species of elementary particles-quarks, leptons, neutrinos - which may exist. And black holes lead to a fundamental limitation on the rate at which information can be transferred for given message energy by any communication system. (author)

Conceivable experimental investigations to prove the existence of black holes are discussed. Double system with a black hole turning around a star-satellite are in the spotlight. X-radiation emmited by such systems and resulting from accretion of the stellar gas by a black hole, and the gas heating when falling on the black hole might prove the model suggested. A source of strong X-radiation observed in the Cygnus star cluster and referred to as Cygnus X-1 may be thus identified as a black hole. Direct registration of short X-ray pulses with msec intervals might prove the suggestion. The lack of appropriate astrophysic facilities is pointed out to be the major difficulty on the way of experimental verifications

The principle that unitarity must be preserved in all processes, no matter how exotic, has led to deep insights into boundary conditions in cosmology and black hole theory. In the case of black hole evaporation, Horowitz and Maldacena were led to propose that unitarity preservation can be understood in terms of a restriction imposed on the wave function at the singularity. Gottesman and Preskill showed that this natural idea only works if one postulates the presence of 'conspiracies' between systems just inside the event horizon and states at much later times, near the singularity. We argue that some AdS black holes have unusual internal thermodynamics, and that this may permit the required 'conspiracies' if real black holes are described by some kind of sum over all AdS black holes having the same entropy

We investigate the geometry of four dimensional black hole solutions in the presence of stringy higher curvature corrections to the low energy effective action. For certain supersymmetric two charge black holes these corrections drastically alter the causal structure of the solution, converting seemingly pathological null singularities into timelike singularities hidden behind a finite area horizon. We establish, analytically and numerically, that the string-corrected two-charge black hole metric has the same Penrose diagram as the extremal four-charge black hole. The higher derivative terms lead to another dramatic effect--the gravitational force exerted by a black hole on an inertial observer is no longer purely attractive. The magnitude of this effect is related to the size of the compactification manifold.

Interpreting the cosmological constant as a pressure, whose thermodynamically conjugate variable is a volume, modifies the first law of black hole thermodynamics. Properties of the resulting thermodynamic volume are investigated: the compressibility and the speed of sound of the black hole are derived in the case of nonpositive cosmological constant. The adiabatic compressibility vanishes for a nonrotating black hole and is maximal in the extremal case--comparable with, but still less than, that of a cold neutron star. A speed of sound v s is associated with the adiabatic compressibility, which is equal to c for a nonrotating black hole and decreases as the angular momentum is increased. An extremal black hole has v s 2 =0.9 c 2 when the cosmological constant vanishes, and more generally v s is bounded below by c/√(2).

Due to their large biomass forests assume an important role in the global carbon cycle by moderating the greenhouse effect of atmospheric pollution. The Kyoto Protocol recognises this contribution by allocating carbon credits to countries which are able to create new forest areas. Sequestrated carbon provides an environmental benefit thus must be taken into account in cost-benefit analysis of afforestation projects. Furthermore, like timber output carbon credits are now tradable assets in the carbon exchange. By using British data, this paper looks at the issue of identifying optimum felling age by considering carbon sequestration benefits simultaneously with timber yields. The results of this analysis show that the inclusion of carbon benefits prolongs the optimum cutting age by requiring trees to stand longer in order to soak up more CO{sub 2}. Consequently this finding must be considered in any carbon accounting calculations. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Carbon sequestration in forestry is an environmental benefit. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It moderates the problem of global warming. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer It prolongs the gestation period in harvesting. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer This paper uses British data in less favoured districts for growing Sitka spruce species.

The estimation of forest biomass on a global scale is an important input to global climate and carbon cycle models. Remote sensing using synthetic aperture radar offers a means to obtain such a data set. Although it has been clear for some time that radar signals penetrate forest canopies, only recently has it been demonstrated that these signals are indeed sensitive to biomass. Inasmuch as the majority of a forest's biomass is in the trunks, it is important that the radar is sensing the trunk biomass as opposed to the branch or leaf biomass. In this study we use polarimetric AIRSAR P- and L-band data from a variety of forests to determine if the radar penetrates to the trunk by examining the scattering mechanism as determined using van Zyl's scattering interaction model, and the levels at which saturation occurs with respect to sensitivity of radar backscatter to total biomass. In particular, the added sensitivity of P-band relative to L-band is addressed. Results using data from the Duke Forest in North Carolina, the Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest in Alaska, Shasta Forest in California, the BlackForest in Germany, the temporate/boreal transition forests in northern Michigan, and coastal forests along the Oregon Transect will be presented.

This study investigates the effects of forest transformation into recreation site. A fragment of a Pinus pinaster plantation forest was transferred to a recreation site in the city of Bartın located close to the Black Sea coast of northwestern Turkey. During the transformation, some of the trees were selectively removed from the forest to generate more open spaces for the recreationists. As a result, Leaf Area Index (LAI) decreased by 0.20 (about 11%). Additionally, roads and pathways were introduced into the site together with some recreational equipment sealing parts of the soil surface. Consequently, forest environment was altered with a semi-natural landscape within the recreation site. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of forest transformation into recreation site particularly in terms of the LAI parameter, forest floor, and soil properties. Preliminary monitoring results indicate that forest floor biomass is reduced by 26% in the recreation site compared to the control site. Soil temperature is increased by 15% in the recreation site where selective removal of trees expanded the gaps allowing more light transmission. On the other hand, the soil bulk density which is an indicator of soil compaction is unexpectedly slightly lower in the recreation site. Organic carbon (C(org)) and total nitrogen (N(total)) together with the other physical and chemical parameter values indicate that forest floor and soil have not been exposed to much disturbance. However, subsequent removal of trees that would threaten the vegetation, forest floor, and soil should not be allowed. The activities of the recreationists are to be concentrated on the paved spaces rather than soil surfaces. Furthermore, long-term monitoring and management is necessary for both the observation and conservation of the site.

Are supermassive black holes found only at the centers of galaxies? Definitely not, according to a new study in fact, galaxies like the Milky Way may harbor several such monsters wandering through their midst.Collecting Black Holes Through MergersIts generally believed that galaxies are built up hierarchically, growing in size through repeated mergers over time. Each galaxy in a major merger likely hosts a supermassive black hole a black hole of millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun at its center. When a pair of galaxies merges, their supermassive black holes will often sink to the center of the merger via a process known as dynamical friction. There the supermassive black holes themselves will eventually merge in a burst of gravitational waves.Spatial distribution and velocities of wandering supermassive black holes in three of the authors simulated galaxies, shown in edge-on (left) and face-on (right) views of the galaxy disks. Click for a closer look. [Tremmel et al. 2018]But if a galaxy the size of the Milky Way was built through a history of many major galactic mergers, are we sure that all its accumulated supermassive black holes eventually merged at the galactic center? A new study suggests that some of these giants might have escaped such a fate and they now wander unseen on wide orbits through their galaxies.Black Holes in an Evolving UniverseLed by Michael Tremmel (Yale Center for Astronomy Astrophysics), a team of scientists has used data from a large-scale cosmological simulation, Romulus25, to explore the possibility of wandering supermassive black holes. The Romulus simulations are uniquely suited to track the formation and subsequent orbital motion of supermassive black holes as galactic halos are built up through mergers over the history of the universe.From these simulations, Tremmel and collaborators find an end total of 316 supermassive black holes residing within the bounds of 26 Milky-Way-mass halos. Of these, roughly a third are

Millennial Black women teachers wrestle with two simultaneous burdens: disrupting the racist and sexist status quo of schooling through curriculum, and employing tactics to survive school politics among their majority White women colleagues. This article describes how the "Sisters of Promise" (SOP) curriculum aligned with Black feminism…

The question 'who is the victim?' is an important social directive that shapes the struggles for victimhood in which Black Lives Matters, U.S. police forces and their various (counter)publics are currently engaging. This column begins with a controversial FBI report on so-called Black Identity

Full Text Available Based on summarizing the experiences of countries with the developed forest sector (Finland, Sweden, Japan, Germany, Canada, USA, and Russia the forest policy concept, objectives, and tools are viewed. Types of forest users- recipients of the forest policy are singled out in order to form a rational structure of the forest industry on the basis of the society’s priorities in forest management by means of institutional measures

Forests play a vital role in balancing natural systems: the stabilization of global climate and the management of water and land. 30% of the earth's total land area is forested. 66% of the tropical moist forests are in Latin America and the remainder in Africa and Asia. 75% of tropical dry forests are in Africa. Temperate forests are primarily in developed countries. Deforestation and misuse of forests occurs primarily in developing countries at significant social, economic, and environmental costs. Losses have occurred in fuelwood, fodder, timber, forest products, biological diversity, habitats, genetic materials for food and medicine. The World Bank's evolving role in forestry is briefly described. Agreement has not been reached among people or nations about the most appropriate means to balance conservation and development goals. The challenge is to stabilize existing forests and increase forest planting. The causes of forest degradation must be understood. Direct causes include agricultural encroachment, cattle ranching, fuelwood gathering, commercial logging, and infrastructure development. These direct causes are driven by economic, social, and political forces: market and policy failures, population growth, and poverty. The market failures include: 1) the lack of clearly defined property rights on forest resources for now and the future, 2) the conflict between individual and societal needs, 3) the difficulty in placing a value on nonmarket environmental services and joint products, and 4) the separation between private and social costs. The solution is action at the local, national, and global levels. Countries must establish forest policy. The existing government incentives which promote deforestation must be changed. For example, concession policy and royalty systems must be corrected; explicit and implicit export subsidies on timber and forest products must be stopped. Private incentives must be established to promote planting of trees, practicing

The spacetime singularities in classical general relativity are inevitable, as predicated by the celebrated singularity theorems. However, it is a general belief that singularities do not exist in Nature and that they are the limitations of the general relativity. In the absence of a welldefined quantum gravity, models of regular black holes have been studied. We employ a probability distribution inspired mass function m(r) to replace the Kerr black hole mass M to represent a nonsingular rotating black hole that is identified asymptotically (r >> k, k > 0 constant) exactly as the Kerr-Newman black hole, and as the Kerr black hole when k = 0. The radiating counterpart renders a nonsingular generalization of Carmeli's spacetime as well as Vaidya's spacetime, in the appropriate limits. The exponential correction factor changing the geometry of the classical black hole to remove the curvature singularity can also be motivated by quantum arguments. The regular rotating spacetime can also be understood as a black hole of general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics. (orig.)

One hundred years after its first successful synthesis in the bulk form in 1914, black phosphorus (black P) was recently rediscovered from the perspective of a 2D layered material, attracting tremendous interest from condensed matter physicists, chemists, semiconductor device engineers, and material scientists. Similar to graphite and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), black P has a layered structure but with a unique puckered single-layer geometry. Because the direct electronic band gap of thin film black P can be varied from 0.3 eV to around 2 eV, depending on its film thickness, and because of its high carrier mobility and anisotropic in-plane properties, black P is promising for novel applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics different from graphene and TMDs. Black P as a nanomaterial has already attracted much attention from researchers within the past year. Here, we offer our opinions on this emerging material with the goal of motivating and inspiring fellow researchers in the 2D materials community and the broad readership of PNAS to discuss and contribute to this exciting new field. We also give our perspectives on future 2D and thin film black P research directions, aiming to assist researchers coming from a variety of disciplines who are desirous of working in this exciting research field.

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version This artist's concept shows a supermassive black hole at the center of a remote galaxy digesting the remnants of a star. NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer had a 'ringside' seat for this feeding frenzy, using its ultraviolet eyes to study the process from beginning to end. The artist's concept chronicles the star being ripped apart and swallowed by the cosmic beast over time. First, the intact sun-like star (left) ventures too close to the black hole, and its own self-gravity is overwhelmed by the black hole's gravity. The star then stretches apart (middle yellow blob) and eventually breaks into stellar crumbs, some of which swirl into the black hole (cloudy ring at right). This doomed material heats up and radiates light, including ultraviolet light, before disappearing forever into the black hole. The Galaxy Evolution Explorer was able to watch this process unfold by observing changes in ultraviolet light. The area around the black hole appears warped because the gravity of the black hole acts like a lens, twisting and distorting light.

In scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale quantum gravity, black holes are expected to be produced in the collision of light particles at center-of-mass energies above the fundamental Planck scale with small impact parameters. Black hole production and evaporation may thus be studied in detail at the large hadron collider (LHC). But even before the LHC starts operating, neutrino telescopes such as AMANDA/IceCube, ANTARES, Baikal, and RICE have an opportunity to search for black hole signatures. Black hole production in the scattering of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos on nucleons in the ice or water may initiate cascades and through-going muons with distinct characteristics above the Standard Model rate. In this Letter, we investigate the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to black hole production and compare it to the one expected at the Pierre Auger Observatory, an air shower array currently under construction, and at the LHC. We find that, already with the currently available data, AMANDA and RICE should be able to place sensible constraints in black hole production parameter space, which are competitive with the present ones from the air shower facilities Fly's Eye and AGASA. In the optimistic case that a ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrino flux significantly higher than the one expected from cosmic ray interactions with the cosmic microwave background radiation is realized in nature, one even has discovery potential for black holes at neutrino telescopes beyond the reach of LHC. (orig.)

This dissertation is a study of the physical mechanism that allows a large scale magnetic field to torque a rapidly rotating, supermassive black hole. This is an interesting problem as it has been conjectured that rapidly rotating black holes are the central engines that power the observed extragalactic double radio sources. Axisymmetric solutions of the curved space-time version of Maxwell's equations in the vacuum do not torque black holes. Plasma must be introduced for the hole to mechanically couple to the field. The dynamical aspect of rotating black holes that couples the magnetic field to the hole is the following. A rotating black hole forces the external geometry of space-time to rotate (the dragging of inertial frames). Inside of the stationary limit surface, the ergosphere, all physical particle trajectories must appear to rotate in the same direction as the black hole as viewed by the stationary observers at asymptotic infinity. In the text, it is demonstrated how plasma that is created on field lines that thread both the ergosphere and the equatorial plane will be pulled by gravity toward the equator. By the aforementioned properties of the ergosphere, the disk must rotate. Consequently, the disk acts like a unipolar generator. It drives a global current system that supports the toroidal magnetic field in an outgoing, magnetically dominated wind. This wind carries energy (mainly in the form of Poynting flux) and angular momentum towards infinity. The spin down of the black hole is the ultimate source of this energy and angular momentum flux

Despite its common occurrence in the gas industry, black powder is a problem that is not well understood across the industry, in terms of its chemical and physical properties, source, formation, prevention or management of its impacts. In order to prevent or effectively manage the impacts of black powder, it is essential to have knowledge of its chemical and physical properties, formation mechanisms and sources. The present paper is divided into three parts. The first part of this paper is a synopsis of published literature. The second part reviews the recent laboratory and field work conducted at Saudi Aramco Research and Development Center to determine the compositions, properties, sources and formation mechanisms of black powder in gas transmission systems. Microhardness, nano-indentation, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to analyze a large number of black powder samples collected from the field. Our findings showed that black powder is generated inside pipelines due to internal corrosion and that the composition of black powder is dependent on the composition of transported gas. The final part presents a summary and brief discussion of various black powder management methods. (author)

The thermodynamic theory underlying black hole processes is developed in detail and applied to model systems. It is found that Kerr-Newman black holes undergo a phase transition at a = 0.68M or Q = 0.86M, where the heat capacity has an infinite discontinuity. Above the transition values the specific heat is positive, permitting isothermal equilibrium with a surrounding heat bath. Simple processes and stability criteria for various black hole situations are investigated. The limits for entropically favoured black hole formation are found. The Nernst conditions for the third law of thermodynamics are not satisfied fully for black holes. There is no obvious thermodynamic reason why a black hole may not be cooled down below absolute zero and converted into a naked singularity. Quantum energy-momentum tensor calculations for uncharged black holes are extended to the Reissner-Nordstrom case, and found to be fully consistent with the thermodynamic picture for Q < M. For Q < M the model predicts that 'naked' collapse also produces radiation, with such intensity that the collapsing matter is entirely evaporated away before a naked singularity can form.

The phrase 'a forest conscienceness' was used in a major statement made by Charles Lane Poole, Western Australia's Conservator of Forests from 1916-1921, for the 1920 British Empire Forestry Conference. It is both relevant and contemporary at the beginning of the 21st century. We chose it as the conference theme to encourage engagement with both a...

In this paper, Montana is divided into eight geographic subdivisions called "forest regions," based on distributions of tree and undergrowth species and the relationship of these patterns to climate and topography. The regions serve as a geographic reference for describing patterns of forest vegetation across the State. Data on the distributions of plant...

Forest fire detection is a very important issue in the pre-suppression process. Timely detection allows the suppression units to reach the fire in its initial stages and this will reduce the suppression costs considerably. The autonomous forest fire detection principle is based on temporal contrast

This edition of Forest Nursery Pests, Agriculture Handbook No. 680, was made possible by the work of many people from around the country. Contributing authors include U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and Agricultural Research Service entomologists and pathologists, university professors and researchers, State extension specialists, consultants, and plant...

The nature of carbon in forests is discussed from the perspective of carbon trading. Carbon inventories, specifically in the area of land use and forestry are reviewed for the Pacific Northwest. Carbon turnover in forests is discussed as it relates to carbon sequestration. Scient...

The USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis (NRS-FIA) program is changing to a Web-based, dynamically linked reporting system. As part of the process, this year NRS-FIA is producing this abbreviated summary of 2005 data. This resource bulletin reports on area, volume, and biomass using data from 2001 through 2005. Estimates from...

A brief overview and some personal thoughts are offered that deal with the implications of our social and political systems on the long-term sustainability of our forest resources. The connection of the most recent climatic events, in a geologic-time context, to the development of present day oak dominated forests of the Eastern United States is discussed. The impacts...

Forest certification systems are voluntary, market-based initiatives to promote the sustainable use of forests. These standards assume that consumers prefer products made from materials grown in an environmentally sustainable fashion, and this in turn creates incentives for companies to adopt responsible environmental practices. One of the major reasons for the...

Key FindingsForest conversion to agriculture or urban use consistently causes increased discharge, peak flow, and velocity of streams. Subregional differences in hydrologic responses to urbanization are substantial.Sediment, water chemistry indices, pathogens, and other substances often become more concentrated after forest...

Scientific community is concerned to address contemporary issues of food production and conserve tropical forests that support the livelihoods of millions of people. A review of the literature on deforestation, forest utilization, and landscape management for ecosystem services was conducted to i...

Deforestation and forest degradation in the tropics have been receiving both scientific and political attention in recent decades due to its impacts on the environment and on human livelihoods. In Ghana, the continuous decline of forest resources and the high demand for timber have raised

The annual forest inventory of Wisconsin continues, and this document reports 2001-05 moving averages for most variables and comparisons between 2000 and 2005 for growth, removals, and mortality. Summary resource tables can be generated through the Forest Inventory Mapmaker website at http://ncrs2.fs.fed.us/4801/fiadb/index. htm. Estimates from this inventory show a...

resources into food, health and industrial products and energy. Fertilization in Sweden and Finland is currently practiced by extensive fertilization regimens where nitrogen fertilizers are applied once, or up to three times, during a rotation period, mainly in mature forest. This type of fertilization...... gives, in most cases, a small and transient effect on the environment as well as a high rate of return to the forest owner with low-economic risk. The increase in biomass production, however, is relatively small and consequently the impact on the processing industry and the bioeconomy is limited. More...... in combination with present management systems and, almost instantly, enhances forest productivity. There may, however, be both economic and environmental constraints to large-scale applications of fertilizers in forest. Here we review the literature concerning biomass production of forests under different...

We study the effect of primordial black holes on the classical rate of nucleation of AdS regions within the standard electroweak vacuum. We find that the energy barrier for transitions to the new vacuum, which characterizes the exponential suppression of the nucleation rate, can be reduced significantly in the black-hole background. A precise analysis is required in order to determine whether the the existence of primordial black holes is compatible with the form of the Higgs potential at high temperature or density in the Standard Model or its extensions.

We consider the possibility that small black holes can act as nucleation seeds for the decay of a metastable vacuum, focussing particularly on the Higgs potential. Using a thin-wall bubble approximation for the nucleation process, which is possible when generic quantum gravity corrections are added to the Higgs potential, we show that primordial black holes can stimulate vacuum decay. We demonstrate that for suitable parameter ranges, the vacuum decay process dominates over the Hawking evaporation process. Finally, we comment on the application of these results to vacuum decay seeded by black holes produced in particle collisions.

We compute the length and time scales associated with resonant orbits around Kerr black holes for all orbital and spin parameters. Resonance-induced effects are potentially observable when the Event Horizon Telescope resolves the inner structure of Sgr A*, when space-based gravitational wave detectors record phase shifts in the waveform during the resonant passage of a compact object spiraling into the black hole, or in the frequencies of quasiperiodic oscillations for accreting black holes. The onset of geodesic chaos for non-Kerr spacetimes should occur at the resonance locations quantified here.

We consider the possibility that small black holes can act as nucleation seeds for the decay of a metastable vacuum, focussing particularly on the Higgs potential. Using a thin-wall bubble approximation for the nucleation process, which is possible when generic quantum gravity corrections are added to the Higgs potential, we show that primordial black holes can stimulate vacuum decay. We demonstrate that for suitable parameter ranges, the vacuum decay process dominates over the Hawking evaporation process. Finally, we comment on the application of these results to vacuum decay seeded by black holes produced in particle collisions.

We consider the spacetime structure of Kerr-Goedel black holes, analyzing their parameter space in detail. We apply the tunnelling method to compute their temperature and compare the results to previous calculations obtained via other methods. We claim that it is not possible to have the closed timelike curve (CTC) horizon in between the two black hole horizons and include a discussion of issues that occur when the radius of the CTC horizon is smaller than the radius of both black hole horizons